"The comeback is on": America's Cup challenger Britannia make Team NZ pay for unforced error

"The comeback is on."

It was one simple statement from Sir Ben Ainslie in the cockpit of his AC75 Britannia, but it summed up the mood in the British camp perfectly following a pivotal day four of the 37th America’s Cup Match.

Two races in incredibly tricky conditions and it was two wins for the challengers who fed off Emirates Team New Zealand’s mistakes and let their bigger boat design handle the choppy sea state.

Down four nil heading into the day’s sailing, Ainslie couldn’t have asked for a better start to the first race of the day, receiving a gift in the form of an unforced error from Team New Zealand.

Light winds made it treacherous foiling conditions for both crews and as the Kiwis attempted a gybe in the start box after coming in slightly late from port entry, they fell off their foils giving the British a golden opportunity.

The moment was seized as INEOS Britannia then peppered the Kiwi boat with wind wash, making it incredibly difficult to get up and foiling.

Ultimately it was a lead of over two minutes for Britannia at the first gate and a comfortable win of over a minute at the finish line.

Flight controller, and longtime integral member of Team New Zealand, Blair Tuke was happy to put his hand up on behalf of his crew and admit the moment was as frustrating as it was costly.

“It was tough wasn’t it? That prestart was over before it really began, it was a pretty big mistake by us there," he said.

“As we went to enter we had two pretty big set waves and we were a little bit early, so we had to slow down and we couldn’t get accelerated over top of those waves to then get in front of INEOS.”

“That was a shame, we shouldn’t have done that and obviously we’ll review how not to do that again.”

In the second race of the day it was less of an obvious disaster for Team New Zealand in the start but more of a missed opportunity as they let the British boat off the hook big time after having them in a vulnerable position initially.

It meant Britannia flew the gates, and crucially got to build a lead which they did not relent despite some desperation sailing from behind from the Kiwis. Tuke once again lamented a lack of execution in the start.

“We positioned those first two tacks really nicely and then that’s one opportunity missed again, we had them in quite a strong spot but just judged out gybe back too late and they rolled over top of us.”

“It was a bit of a start of what ifs really, it shows you, you can get someone in a strong position but you need to put in that final blow and we didn’t do that and that’s what happens, two race losses.

“Of course there’s disappointment in the group, but there is also lots of confidence in the way we were sailing once we got going and the boat felt like it was going really fast too.”

The 4-2 scoreline now sets up a regatta defining Friday in Barcelona with two races scheduled. If Britannia manage to keep their momentum and win the first race it will pour all sorts of pressure on the defenders.

A day off tomorrow gives Team NZ a crucial opportunity to review their errors on the water and analyse where the challengers have managed to pick up the apparent boat lengths they have, something co-helm of Taihoro Nathan Outteridge is looking forward to.

“Tonight and tomorrow we’ll be reviewing a lot about what happened today and just trying to make sure we stop the errors we made creeping into other days," Tuke said.

“We know we can do a much better job than we did today and we know that our competitor is a top notch competitor so we’ve got to up our game for Friday.”

If the Kiwis want to keep the demons from San Francisco at bay, it’ll be a swift response needed to thwart the British comeback before it gets an opportunity to become a reality.