Bernie Wilson: Kiwis reach match point in America's Cup challenger finals

QUOTE-UNQUOTE: The Kiwis need just one win Monday to clinch a spot in the America's Cup match against two-time defending champion Oracle Team USA and a chance to atone for their soul-crushing loss in the 2013 match. Team New Zealand had a big lead late in Race 6 when Burling, an Olympic gold and silver medalist, missed the layline into the bottom mark. The 50-foot catamaran came off its foils and slowed dramatically, allowing Artemis to catch up. The Kiwis regained their speed on the short reach to the finish, had a better angle to the line and won by one second. "I think we definitely owe a few supporters a few beers or something like that," Burling said. "A few guys on the team reckon they lost a few years off their life watching that. It was my stuff-up. Plain and simple, we missed the layline." –Bernie Wilson, the Associated Press' esteemed sports reporter based in San Diego who has been covering the Cup since 1992, writing in today's wrap-up story for the AP via the Charlotte Observer. Bernie will be in Bermuda from next Tuesday through the end of the AC Match. Look out Bermuda! Full story.

Emirates Team New Zealand win by one second over Artemis Racing in today's third race. ETNZ now leads to first-to-five series 4-2. Final day of racing in the Challenger Finals is tomorrow. The forecast is for light winds, at or just above the 6-knot minimum wind limit, conditions which ETNZ have reveled in during previous racing.