You can feel it in the air and almost touch it all around the Port Vell dockside, the pressure is on at this most intriguing, fascinating Louis Vuitton 37th America’s Cup Match. Friday is quite simply a massive day for the overall outcome. A day where whatever the score after two races, a direction of travel, a momentum, could well be established.

In scoring two wins on Wednesday, the British signalled their intent. One relatively easy win after Emirates Team New Zealand fell off the foils in the pre-start was followed up by a seven second, narrow victory where they defended for all their worth. A good day for the INEOS Britannia team all round.
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For Emirates Team New Zealand, the sailors came ashore ruing small errors and not capitalising on positional advantage – particularly in the pre-start. After a thorough de-brief, the expectation is that the Kiwis will come out swinging today.
All eyes on the weather this morning and in Barcelona city it was a chilly start whilst off the coast, a band of clouds sit menacing across the near horizon. The wind is in the west and it all depends on whether the sun and thermals keep the clouds away. If so, we could see a switch to the south-west and the promise of breeze in the 10-13 knots region.

If, however, the clouds come in and the wind stays in the west, the likelihood is for a shifty day as the airflow comes across the city and Montjuïc comes into play. Current models suggest 7-11 knots from the west but there is hope amongst the professional meteorologists of an improving picture, at least for the first race before the wind may drop off a notch.

We are set for a fascinating Friday on this fifth day of the Louis Vuitton 37th America’s Cup Match. Fans from both Britian and New Zealand have thronged into the city and it’s a mass of colour, fun and the unique excitement of one of the world’s greatest sporting spectacles. The Louis Vuitton 37th America’s Cup is very much alive and kicking, and it’s game on for the duel in the sun to go all the way.