The America's Cup is slowly slipping away from defending champ Oracle Team USA as they found themselves in a huge 7-1 hole heading into what could be the final day of the coveted team racing showpiece Tuesday in San Francisco, California.
After a one-day break, America's Cup action resumes with Emirates Team New Zealand inching closer to reclaiming the America's Cup trophy. On the other hand, Oracle Team USA is scrambling to survive another day with the hope of pulling off one of the biggest comebacks in sailing history.
The weekend produced heart-stopping races with Oracle Team USA finally erasing the two-point penalty and then registering their first point in this edition of America's Cup after edging Team New Zealand on race No.9. The challengers almost lost it all on Saturday after strong winds and big tides nearly caused them to capsize. However, Emirates Team New Zealand skipper Dean Barker and the rest of the crew recovered well from the scare as the Kiwis came through with a morale-boosting win in Sunday's second race to move two points away from clinching the third America's Cup victory for the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron (1995, 2000).
With strong ebb set to prevail in Tuesday's races, regatta director Iain Murray is expecting another unpredictable battle at San Francisco Bay. Cancellation of races remains a possibility in an effort to avoid freak things from happening.
"For a long time we've known that this would be the toughest tide day. It's a strong ebb at 2.9 knots (for Race 11) and 2.7 (for Race 12), so we have a low wind limit, 20.1 knots and 20.3 knots for the two races," Murray said in his pre-race briefing via the official America's Cup website. "Just to compliment the day we have our strongest wind forecast. The committee boat will set up on station and we'll monitor the situation. We thought it would be tough on Sunday but we got two races in, so fingers crossed."
T.V Schedule & Live Stream Information
NBC Sports Coverage of the America's Cup Final will begin at 4:15 EST/1:30 p.m PST. International viewers can watch the live streaming and replay of the America's Cup final on the race's official Youtube Channel.