Team NZ buoyant on eve of final

Team New Zealand skipper Glenn Ashby is adamant he has the boat and crew to be ‘‘in the hunt’’ for the America’s Cup.

Emirates Team New Zealand take on defenders Oracle Team USA in the first two races of the Cup match in Bermuda tomorrow.

It’s a dream rematch of their epic 2013 showdown. Oracle earned bragging rights in San Francisco and claimed a psychological edge over the Kiwis by winning their two round-robin races in Bermuda, the second victory earning them a one-point advantage to take into a Cup match.

As a consequence, Team New Zealand need to win eight matches and Oracle only seven to win the Auld Mug.

The Kiwis made errors at key times in both times in both their Bermuda losses to Oracle. In many ways they lost the races as much as Jimmy Spithill won them. Ashby feels they have learned plenty in a short time since then to make them more than competitive for the final.

‘‘We are sailing the boat a hell of a lot better now than we were a week or two ago. I really feel like we do have a chance,’’ Ashby said.

‘‘There’s one thing for sure, though, and that’s over the last week or so Oracle haven’t got slower.

‘‘But both teams have probably stepped forward and I think we are in a position where if we sail our boat well, we’re definitely in with a chance. That’s the only position to be in.

‘‘We are going to be in the hunt, and at this stage of the game that’s all you can wish for.’’

Ashby believes Team New Zealand’s challenger playoff tussles with Great Britain and particularly against the swift Swedes have them battle-hardened. In contrast, Oracle have spent the last fortnight developing and testing on their own or in non-race situations with Team Japan.

‘‘That has been fantastic for all of us as a team. It wasn’t easy, you had to sail well and put your best foot forward to beat Artemis,’’ Ashby said. ‘‘So we have definitely stepped forward.’’

Ashby promised that would continue through the match, as it needed to.

‘‘Our steepness of the learning curve is still really steep. We have improved quickly and we are still improving quickly. The sky’s the limit really.’’

Ashby felt there had been gains in key areas: the starting box where rookie helmsman Peter Burling’s work has been questioned, on-board communications, and course management.

‘‘We are definitely throwing the boat around a lot more confidently and putting the boat in positions where we want to be. That’s exciting because we aren’t going to get worse at it over the next few days,’’ Ashby said.

They were prepared for Spithill’s aggression: ‘‘He will try everything and we will be countering that as well. We aren’t going to be going out there with our tail between our legs. We are prepared for a good battle.

‘‘We are in as good a shape as we could be. There’s not a whole lot sitting there where we’re saying, crikey we need to do this or we need to do that,’’ Ashby said.

"We are in a position where if we sail our boat well, we're definitely in with a chance." Glenn Ashby