HAMILTON, Bermuda — Jimmy Spithill was back in his element on Saturday: sailing hurt in a rejiggered America’s Cup yacht, with a big deficit to overcome.
There was even an opportunity for Spithill, Oracle Team USA’s skipper, to engage in interview room repartee with his opposing helmsman from New Zealand.
But Spithill, who is not nicknamed Pitbull for nothing, kept scrapping and tacking and talking a good game, and he and his crewmates were finally rewarded with their first victory in this otherwise lopsided America’s Cup match.
After they made mistake after mistake in Saturday’s opening race and allowed the challenger, Emirates Team New Zealand, to increase its lead to 4-0, Spithill and Team USA clawed back to win the day’s second race by 11 seconds.