Emirates Team New Zealand sailed two near-perfect races on Bermuda’s Great Sound on Friday to take the lead in the America’s Cup qualifiers.
With 26-year-old Peter Burling calmly steering the 50-foot catamaran, the Kiwis became the first to sail around the seven-leg course entirely on hydrofoils, with the hulls never touching the water until just after the finish line. That came in a 4:06 whitewashing of Groupama Team France, which was eliminated with one race to sail.
The Kiwis also beat SoftBank Team Japan by 51 seconds, staying on their foils 99.6 percent of the time.
Emirates Team New Zealand, the hard-luck loser in the 2013 America’s Cup, has 8 points, one more than two-time defending champion Oracle Team USA.