Mackenzie Cooper, the Team BDA skipper, has hailed the home crowd’s “inspirational support” after taking a giant leap towards the Red Bull Youth America’s Cup Finals.

Team BDA were the picture of consistency on the opening day of the Qualifying Series as they delivered three solid performances, each better than the next, to leave them tied in third in pool B.

Finishes of fourth, third and second have put the local entry in a healthy position to advance to the finals as one of the top four qualifiers from their pool.

Cooper said the islanders were blown away by the spine-tingling atmosphere generated by their passionate fans in the grandstand, as well as the trumpet horns from the spectator boats fringing the edges of the racecourse.

“It’s inspirational, which sounds cheesy, but to hear that kind of support is amazing and really pumps you up,” Cooper said.

“There are moments when you pause to take a breath and hear the air horns, the boat horns, the people in the grandstand, and it fills you with confidence.

“One of the guys just said that after the fourth place — which we weren’t super happy with — it was the crowd’s noise that really kept us going. What an incredible venue for us!”

Flying with confidence after laying some strong foundations, Team BDA pursued a victory in the third and final outing but were kept at bay by a formidable-looking Land Rover BAR Academy.

“We really wanted to win that one for the fans cheering us on,” said Cooper, who is also the team tactician.

“Our aim was to start really consistently, get some good results on the board, and we managed to do that.

“We would have taken a four, three, two any day. It was a really good day for us.”

Cooper and his team had spoken confidently about their chances before the event and backed up their fighting talk by punching above their weight against the best youth sailing nations in the world.

While warning against complacency, the 22-year-old insists there is plenty more to come from his team and admits their trio of promising displays were far from mistake-free.

“We can’t afford to get carried away as there are still half the qualifying races left,” Cooper said.

“I think there’s more to come from us, though, and we showed we can really hang with anybody.

“It was a tough day’s racing for everybody, a lot of up and down scores, so for us to be consistent was really pleasing.

“We definitely made some mistakes around the racecourse and we’re going to need to get better and clean those up.”

Land Rover BAR Academy, the British team, top the standings with their wins in the first and third races sandwiching a NZL Sailing Team victory in the second.

The Kiwis, the defending champions, made a slow start, placing fifth in the opener before finishing the day with a third. They are level on points with Bermuda in third, with Spanish Impulse a point ahead after two runners-up finishes and a fourth place.

“We’re just trying to get to the finals; that’s when you really start pushing it and try to get some race wins,” Cooper added.

Dimitri Stevens, the Team BDA helmsman, said he was delighted with how they handled the tricky light winds on the Great Sound.

“It was stressful! I don’t really like light winds but we made the best of it and got some good results,” Stevens said.

“We’re looking to improve the boat mechanics and keeping everything slow and calm, especially in the light winds. You can’t really rush around with what we’re doing.”