AC35: Day 2 of the Challenger Finals – SWE v. NZL, with NZL up 2-1 in first-to-five series

HAMILTON, BDA – Artemis Racing v. Emirates Team New Zealand. Nathan Outteridge v. Peter Burling. Yesterday, ETNZ won 2 and Artemis 1. Artemis won all three starts. ETNZ was quicker. Artemis committed another critical mistake when pressed by ETNZ coming from behind – the slip, slidin' away falling overboard of Nathan in Race 3. Again today at the start, Artemis gaps off and takes the windward berth (to starboard of ETNZ) and powers over the top of NZL to round Mark 1 with a :03 lead.

SWE, with their high speed boards, seem a bit quicker today in the 13-14 knots gusting to 17. Kiwis are on the same AP ("all purpose") boards as yesterday. Artemis extending their lead on each leg – now about 250m down Leg 4 of 7.

Paul Cayard doing the on-the-water commentary today. And, yes, someone must have given Ken Read a comb, and he looked 100% better on camera in the pre-show.

And finally today TV are showing VMG on each boat!

WOW, Artemis seemed to completely lose control just after I took the screen shot above. They reared up on their foils, then crashed down and bore off – went sideways even – in front of the Kiwis who protested for windward-leeward. Green-flagged by the umpires but a close call that could have gone either way.

SWE regain their composure and keep the lead. Down Leg 6 Artemis extend, and should win the race. They do by 15 seconds. Whew! Series now even on 2-2. This means there will be racing on Monday, when the forecast is for very light air, as there are only three races scheduled today.