With a semblance of a pecking order established from the opening races of the Louis Vuitton Cup Round Robins, New York YC’s American Magic sat on the bubble heading into the sixth day of racing in the series and sitting alongside them on that bubble was INEOS Britannia. For these two challengers, the race to the top of the standings was well and truly on.

With winds just strong enough to foil and just weak enough not to, the pressure was on both teams to stay aloft, even American Magic’s starboard helmsman Tom Slingsby was aware of this before the start as INEOS Britannia took control of the dance. “We’re going to take a penalty instead of falling off the foils,” Slingsby told his teammates. A brief touchdown for INEOS and a penalty before the start, however, gave the Americans enough breathing room to take control at the start.

With the British breaking away early, American Magic wasted no time in covering their rivals, and at the first junction they launched into a decisive defensive cover play, pinning INEOS against the right boundary of the course.

At the first gate they were separated by just 20 seconds but the Americans had an open course, gusted as they pleased and built up a 350-metre lead through good boat management. The Brits however eroded American Magic’s lead on the next upwind leg as the two teams went tack to tack, with INEOS reducing the gap to 16 seconds by the next gate.

The gap was now 9 seconds at the end of the race, making for what was arguably the closest race in the Louis Vuitton Cup so far. They continued on to leg five, with American Magic doing all they could to cover and match INEOS’ remarkable tacking efficiency. “Keep the pressure on, focus on our tacking,” Slingsby calmly urged his team-mates.

Their lead was down to just 16 metres when America’s Magic’s Patriot rounded the right-hand gate mark to set off on the final leg. However, the boat got too high on its foils, skidded and hit the ground, reducing its speed. INEOS pounced and happily took the lead as the two sides separated. American Magic dove into more wind on the right-hand side of the course about halfway through the race while the Brits found themselves in a lull and slowing down on the final gybe. American Magic came out on top and took victory by 13 seconds, bursting the British bubble.

It was undoubtedly the most exciting race of the series, which continued to be held in wind conditions below 10 knots, which produced lopsided results for the rest of the day’s racing. In the next race, Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli and Orient Express faced the French, who were given a penalty before the start and fought to get out of displacement mode to start. Orient Express could only chase the unbeaten Italians, and the final delta was just over a minute in 22 minutes of racing.

With a loss for the day, INEOS Britannia already had an opponent to face in Emirates Team New Zealand, and while there were no points to be won in the series, this would be their last chance to test the defender before the New Zealanders were given a bye from the remaining race of the Louis Vuitton Cup. INEOS Britannia made a bright start, but the New Zealanders quickly pinned the Brits to the left boundary, maintaining the deadly high mode that has been their undefended weapon in the series.

Ainslie had seen what was happening before tacking, mentioning that there would be problems outside the tack, and there were. The British boat missed the tack and had to dive downwind of the Kiwis to get up speed. They could do nothing to get past the defenders and did themselves a favour by falling off the foils as they passed the fourth gate. That was the end of the race with a final delta of 3 minutes and 2 seconds… almost a leg ahead.

Full of confidence, American Magic replaced their cyclos and returned to the course for the rest of the day, this time against Alinghi Red Bull Racing, the Swiss team that had only won once in the series so far. It was the race to win for American Magic to close in on the Italians at the top of the standings, but a penalty for entering the race too early would be the first in a series of cascading errors.

After crossing the line with a 75-metre penalty to be imposed on Alinghi Red Bull Racing, the team quickly separated from the start and Alinghi went straight into their defensive cover, executing clean manoeuvres and leaving no room for American Magic to gain an advantage or create any overtaking opportunities. There was a 10-second gap between them at the top mark and, once again, the Americans had nowhere to go to find an opportunity to accelerate. Charging into a comfortable lead, the Swiss were lively and gave nothing away.

Halfway through the race, American Magic was struggling to maneuver, losing meters at every turn, to the point that Slingsby could be heard responding to a tactical prompt from his teammates with “It doesn’t matter… we’re so far behind…”

Leaving the Swiss to cover, the Americans were content to look for wind and changes of direction in the final upwind leg, but it didn’t help much. There was no getting around Alinghi Red Bull Racing, who would do even more damage in the final downwind leg to finish a good 38 seconds ahead.

In the final non-scoring race of the day, Emirates Team New Zealand and Orient Express secured the French team’s position at the back of the Challenger fleet. Struggling to manoeuvre in light and patchy conditions, they seemed to spend more time in the water than on the foils, and once Emirates Team New Zealand found their rhythm after a touchdown midway through the first upwind leg, the race was all but over.

The win cemented Emirates Team New Zealand’s dominance of the challenger fleet, and the mid-fleet pecking order remains largely unchanged. American Magic, INEOS Britannia and Alinghi Red Bull Racing have their work cut out to avoid falling off the bubble in the next round, and as things stand, Orient Express Racing Team is likely to be the first casualty of the Louis Vuitton Cup.