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Race 10
Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli v Emirates Team NZ
Team NZ win by 46 seconds, win series 7-3
Finish - There is nothing more for Italy to try to steal victory - they can only take their hats off to the Kiwis.
NZ hit the left layline and head to the finish...
They win! Team NZ have retained the 'Auld Mug'!
Now they can celebrate... Luna Rossa trail home 46 seconds behind.
Sixth leg - NZ sail past Luna Rossa, who are still heading for the top gate, powerless tomake an impression, now 49 seconds behind.
The margin is 650m on the water and Team NZ are steaming.
Jimmy Spithill looks forlorn on Luna Rossa, as he falls further behind.
Fifth leg - Italy follow at 37 seconds behind. The lead is 470m on the water.
Both boats heading across the course to the right, Team NZ just covering their opponents to make sure they can't find something different.
They tack left,but Italy are making no headway into the lead, which holds steady at 490m.
Luna Rossa tack right, but Team NZ may continue to lay from the left.
They tack on the layline and line up that top gate for the last time????
NZ round the right mark and head downwind towards the finish - and the Cup!
Fourth leg - The Kiwis' lead is now 400m and the shore crew must be loosening the corks on the champagne.
Team NZ travelling at 41 knots downwind, where they are strong. The lead stretches to 500m.
Both boats heading right now, but Luna Rossa arrive at the boundary and jibe. They are now 630m behind.
Team NZ lay for the bottom gate, taking the right mark and heading upwind for possibly the last time this regatta.
Third leg - Both boats heading to the right side of the course, with Italy in the wind shadow right now. NZ lead now 250m.
The Italians tack right and Team NZ continue a while, before following to cover.
Both boats continuing to shadow one another back and forwards across the course, NZ 260m up.
Luna Rossa tack back to the right of the course and the margin grows to 300m.
Italy reach the right boundary and tack back to centre, Team NZ are now heading right and will cross 300m ahead.
Team NZ will lay for the top mark from the right and tack on the layline now.
Luna Rossa will lay from the left, but the Kiwis beat them to the gate, rounding the left mark at halfway. Italy continue to the right mark, now 27s back.
Second leg - Team NZ head down the left side of the course at 43 knots downwind. Their lead reaches 250m, before the tack back towards the centre.
The boats will cross again, with NZ 130m ahead. Both content to sail their own races, NZ heading right and Italy left.
Team NZ jibe back left, where the better wind is, they still lead by 100m.
Luna Ross arrive at the boundary and jibe right. They will cross 100m behind, but Team NZ immediately jibe to cover them.
Team NZ jibe late to take the left mark at the bottom of the course, with Luna Rossa only nine seconds behind.
First leg - Italy have a slight lead, as they head to the left side of the course, NZ to the right.
Both tack back towards the centre and Team NZ seem to have the advantage by 100m.
The Kiwis have 50 has the cross in front and immediately tack over the top of Luna Rossa, who immediately tack back left to split.
As they head to the right boundary again, NZ have 90m on their opponents.
The boats are still wide apart, but Italy have their noses in front now, leading by about 20-30m.
They cross again and NZ are ahead by 10m. Luna Rossa continue right, NZ left.
Team NZ will round the top gate first, aiming for the right mark. Luna Rossa will take the left mark seven seconds back.
Start - Race committee has completed wind sampling and the race is live.
Remember, Italy first into the start area. They arrive on time, Team NZ follow and turn to track their rivals to the right boundary.
Italy tack at the boundary and NZ turn the other direction, closer to the start line. Luna Rossa may try to cut them off here...
Both boats trying for the right side of the line.
Team NZ has the right and immediately tack that way.
4:38pm - Wind at 12 knots on the start-line, and the course seems to be aligned and ready to go.
Another fun fact, there have been no passes on Course A during this series, so the start becomes important again.
4:28pm - Fan fact, Luna Rossa have won three of the four races on Course A during this series, so they feel at home here.
Race committee pushes race out to 4:45pm.
4:26pm - Race delayed further until 4:40pm, just to add to the tension.
But the wind has arrived, gusting to 13 knots, and both teams are now reviewing what size sails to use in these changing conditions.
We're basically just to match the course orientation with the wind direction now.
Pre-start - The Italians will have port entry for the first race today and the chance to dictate terms in the start box, although that has now become less important than it seemed earlier in the series, when every race went to the port entrants.
Eight knots on the start-line and wind building outside the course, so looks promising for a timely start.
Race committee has postponed the race, due to light winds shifting to the right, so new start time is 4:30pm. Will we get a second race today?
Officials are shifting the course, so the wind blows directly up the course. This happened last night, when we ran out of time for a second race.
4:01pm - Team NZ are already out on the course and up on their foils, so that's hopeful. Weather experts out on the course are hoping for 12 knots of wind.
3:26pm - Conditions very still out on the course, but expected to pick up later. Maybe we only get one race again today...
Wind reading at the head of the course of seven knots, barely above the 6.5 threshold.
3:20pm - Beautiful day on Auckland harbour and crowds were dribbling into the viaduct area early today to celebrate St Patrick's Day. Can you imagine the celebrations tonight, if Team NZ can seal the deal?
Mayhem!
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Kia ora, good afternoon and welcome to Newshub's live coverage of the America's Cup series between Emirates Team NZ and Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli off Auckland.
Defenders Team NZ are poised to retain the trophy, after building their match advantage to 6-3 on Tuesday, needing just one more win to raise the 'Auld Mug' aloft.
While the first six races of the best-of-13 series were shared between the rivals, the Kiwis have swept the last four and established some dominance over the Italians, who must now win all the remaining races to snatch the Cup.
More importantly, Team NZ have well-and-truly broken the early trend of leaders at the first mark continuing on to win the race. They achieved that again yesterday, when they rode a puff of wind near the top gate to pass Luna Rossa on the penultimate leg and held that advantage to the end.
While Tuesday's action took place on Course C - the spectator-friendly 'stadium course' - race director Iain Murray has created a hybrid of Courses A and B - the northernmost tracks - to capture the expected northeast winds.
The best spots to view racing from the shore are Cheltenham Beach, Narrow Neck Beach and Takapuna Beach Reserve, Takapuna Beach, Milford Beach and any of the other East Coast Bays.
Like yesterday, the breeze is expected to be in the 10-15 knots range for today's first race, but dropping later.
Team NZ helmsman Peter Burling always appeals as an ice-cool customer, but his team will not want to take this contest into a final day. They need to finish it today, or the spectre of Jimmy Spithill and his 2013 San Francisco comeback will weigh heavily on them tonight.
First race is due to start at 4:15pm, with the second scheduled for 5:15pm if needed.
TAB odds: Team $1.01, Luna Rossa $15
Aussie battler Spithill 'excited' on brink of America's Cup defeat
Aussie Jimmy Spithill has never been one to shrink in the face of America's Cup matchpoint - why would he start now?
The Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli helmsman has been here before and admits his team's predicament against Emirates Team NZ has him juiced to race again on Wednesday, with the 'Auld Mug' up for grabs.
"I feel excited," he insists. "I honestly feel excited.
"We're disappointed in the race today - there's no about that - but we live to fight another day.
"When we came back to the dock, there was no heads down or negative energy from any of our teammates, or our fans and supporters - they were lit up. They're ready for it and I can't wait.
"Let's get out there tomorrow - I wish we could right now."
The Kiwis closed to within a win of retaining the silverware, with a stunning come-from-behind win in the only race possible on Tuesday, with shifty winds forcing a postponement of the second scheduled contest.
"When we came back to the dock, there was no heads down or negative energy from any of our teammates, or our fans and supporters - they were lit up. They're ready for it and I can't wait.
"Let's get out there tomorrow - I wish we could right now."
Luna Rossa controlled much of race nine, but failed to cover their rivals near the top gate for the last time, allowing them to find a puff of wind that carried them 18 seconds clear at the mark and 30 seconds by the finish.
Poised at 6-3 in the quest for seven wins, Team NZ were then asked to wait until Wednesday, when race officials could not prepare the course before the 6pm deadline for further racing.
Luna Rossa co-helmsman Francesco Bruni took the blame for the gaff that allowed his opponents past in the best race of the regatta so far.
"I was expecting the wind to go left," he says. "When we went to the crucial moment, I was in charge unfortunately - I wish you were.
"I saw a very light patch in front of me and honestly I couldn't see the black band - what we call the 'Kiwi puff' now - behind it. I missed it.
"I was really worried about crossing that light patch ahead of me. We had a discussion... we agreed we had to protect the left and we did it.
"There was a reason and probably I would do the same mistake another time."
Of course, Spithill engineered the greatest comeback in America's Cup history, when he rallied Oracle Team USA from 8-1 down - matchpoint - against Team NZ in San Francisco 2013, taunting his opponents with the infamous "imagine if these guys lost from here" line.
Even as he and Oracle lost the Mug to the Kiwis at Bermuda four years ago, he refused to blink, so no-one is counting him out just yet.
