Defending America's Cup champion Team Oracle USA scored a crucial victory in race No.8 to keep its title defense alive.
On the other hand, the crew of Emirates Team New Zealand found themselves lucky enough to race for another day after overcoming a potential debacle in Saturday's lone race on San Francisco Bay.
Day 6 of the race is set to be the pivotal point of the America's Cup duel between the champion and the challengers. Coming off a 52-second victory on race No.8, Oracle Team USA is attempting a twin victory on Sunday in an attempt to add pressure on Emirates Team New Zealand. Meanwhile, another sweep by the Kiwis will put them one win away from regaining the America's Cup title. In short, Team Oracle USA cannot afford to lose even a single race, or else their rivals will simply run out the clock for the remainder of the duel.
According to the pre-race weather forecast for Sunday, race Nos.9 and 10 will showcase another furious upwind battle between Oracle and Emirates with wind speed going as fast as 20 knots.
"If you believe the weather forecasters, we'll get two races today; the weather forecasts are talking 18-20 knots," Regatta Director Iain Murray said. "Today we have a quite strong ebb tide. As we saw yesterday, that makes for a nice even racecourse. It's good and bad in a way that they're strong, 2.2 knots in the first race reducing to 1.6 in the second, so a relatively low windspeed.
"The bad news side is that the wind was up to 18 knots earlier," Murray continued. "It's come down to 14 knots as the temperature differential further east and here evens out. So it's going to be close again today. As we keep saying it's a microclimate and a lot changes quickly."
After winning six of the first seven races, Emirates Team New Zealand only needs to win three more races to seal their America's Cup triumph. On the other hand, Oracle Team USA has to win 9 more races - after having a two point penalty imposed on them for cheating in America's Cup warmup in 2012 - for them to retain the title.
T.V Schedule & Live Streaming
NBC Sports Network will start T.V and online live stream coverage of America's Cup final at 4:15 EST/1:15 p.m. PST, while international viewers can watch live stream and replay on their Youtube Channel.
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