Welcome to sailing day 14 of the 35th America’s Cup presented by Louis Vuitton.

This is the third day of the Louis Vuitton America’s Cup Play-off Finals.

Three races are scheduled between Artemis Racing and Emirates Team New Zealand, who lead 4-2 after three tight races were sailed yesterday.

This is a best-of-nine series to determine who will face America’s Cup defender Oracle Team USA in the Match starting on Saturday.

Schedule

Defender Access Period (11am–1pm)

Finals, Race 7: Artemis Racing v Emirates Team New Zealand (2.12pm)

Finals, Race 8 (if necessary): Emirates Team New Zealand v Artemis Racing (2.51pm)

Finals, Race 9 (if necessary): Artemis Racing v Emirates Team New Zealand (3.30pm)

Weather

Expect a southerly breeze at 5-10 knots that could turn variable at times.

With this lighter forecast, it will be interesting to see how these two teams match up when both boats are using their light-air set-ups. The Kiwis have had the edge in light air in previous races.

Hope for fair winds and good racing.

Sunday review

Race 4

All the spectators were looking for more aggressive starts and they got it. After some aggressive luffing, Artemis gapped off to windward of New Zealand, then cracked off for speed and outraced them to the middle mark to turn downwind clear ahead. But they were sailing a seven-leg course and the win is what matters.

Artemis barely led around the mark on to leg six and through the short leg seven to the finish.

The Swedes won by 15 seconds. Their top speed was 48.5 knots and speed was king.

Race 5

This time the Kiwis got the outside lane but couldn’t outspeed Artemis, who carried them up the course from their leeward right-of-way position. Then they peeled off downwind first and led around the bottom mark by 15 seconds.

Going back upwind on leg three, the two crossed tacks and then at the next crossing Artemis tacked on the Kiwis track. Artemis led by six metres as they turned at the boundary. The kiwis took control to leeward, luffed up and pressed for a penalty and Artemis tacked away to keep clear. New Zealand passed Artemis in the move. Kiwis led at the top mark by 15 seconds and by more than 200 metres going downwind.

The Swedes were a long way behind and retired without taking the final leg. They had a technical problem with the port daggerboard and needed to sort it out. As they prepared for the start of the day’s third race, they were frantically working out which system needed repair.

Race 6

Emirates Team New Zealand had a huge lead and Sweden had no options left. All they could hope for was a Kiwi breakdown. And they almost got it.

The Kiwi boat was flying for the finish and looked like they were going to crash into the final gate before the dogleg to the finish. They had a bad gybe because they apparently lost juice in their hydraulics and they just dropped off their foils and virtually stopped.

Frantically, the peddlers pumped it up and the Kiwis got it going to cop a one-second win.

Time difference doesn’t matter because a win is a win. This was the race of the year so far.

The 4-2 scoreline does not reflect the close racing these six matches have produced. Every decision and manoeuvre has been magnified — from the decisions made on boat set-up and foil configuration to choosing the right moment to attack for the lead.