New Zealand are off to a slow start, as they try to defend their early-season SailGP lead at Los Angeles.
After taking out the opening regatta at Chicago last month, the Kiwis have struggled on the opening day on the United States west coast, finishing dead last in the third race and out of the major placings in the other two.
They sit 10 points adrift of the top three - Australia, Great Britain and Denmark - and a place in the event final on Monday (NZ time).
In the first race, they finished fifth, almost a minute behind defending champions Australia.
Skipper Peter Burling was across the start-line at the back of the 10-boat fleet, conceding a huge lead to Great Britain and Canada, but stuck to his task to work his way through the field.
As the second gate, NZ split from their rivals, following the British to the right of the course and picking off stragglers down the third leg. They drew penalties against Spain and France to move midfleet.
Burling passed archrival Jimmy Spithill and his US team at the sixth gate and gathered Canada on the penultimate leg to grab valuable points.
Meanwhile, Australia ran down the British to take maximum points, as they try to avenge their loss to the Kiwis on Lake Michigan.
In the second race, NZ started midfleet and held second at the fourth gate, when they forced USA off their foils and were penalised. Instead of simply slowing, Burling chose to turn 360 degrees to fall behind the Americans - and Spain and Great Britain - into sixth.
The British conceded their position, when they also fell off their foils, and New Zealand improved to third momentarily, but could not hold that placing, settling for fifth.
Denmark led off the start and extended their lead throughout, with Australia second.
At that point, the Kiwis were only a point out of the top three, but lost considerable ground in the third race, which was raced in light airs and reduced from eight to six legs. Great Britain were the first team to find their foils and simply sailing away to victory.
Back in the pack, other teams struggled to find the wind and none more than New Zealand, who could not improve from last throughout, leaving them with a massive challenge in two remaining races. They probably need to win both and hope for help from their rivals.
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