Monday, June 25, 2007
Team New Zealand have defeated Swiss syndicate Alinghi in the second race of the 32nd America’s Cup Challenge on Sunday, making the overall score equal with one win for each team.
Team New Zealand, racing with NZL-92, crossed the start line three seconds ahead of Alinghi’s yacht, SUI-100. But Alinghi led the race at the first mark by 13 seconds, though near the ending of the race, Team New Zealand managed to overtake Alinghi to lead the final leg of the race by 28 seconds.
Former Alinghi and Team New Zealand skipper, Russell Coutts said that the latest win for Team New Zealand will act as a big boost for them. Ray Davis, Team New Zealand after-guard, said, “It’s been huge for the team to get a win on the board in the America’s Cup. It has been a long time coming for Emirates Team New Zealand.”
Dan Cowie, Team New Zealand trimmer, said, “As we said yesterday there are two very even boats out there. We didn’t learn a whole lot more today.”
The next race is scheduled for tomorrow, Monday being a race-off day.
The last time Alinghi and Team New Zealand fought for the America’s Cup was when Team New Zealand was defending the trophy in Auckland, New Zealand.
The past three consecutive America’s Cup challenges have been all whitewash victories, and five of the last six challenges have also been whitewashes.