Greatest ever? Burling passes Spithill's America’s Cup record

By Christopher Reive

As Team New Zealand moved closer to another America’s Cup defence, helmsman Peter Burling brought up a milestone of his own.

In yesterday’s race-three win over Ineos Britannia, Burling took over the mantle as the winningest helmsman in the history of the America’s Cup match with 18 wins, surpassing Jimmy Spithill’s 17. Burling moved to 19 wins this morning.

It’s a run that stretches back to Bermuda in 2017, with the 33-year-old now in his third campaign at the top level of the sport.

“I didn’t actually know until someone told me a little earlier today,” Burling said.

“But it’s an incredible record to have and a really proud moment.”

Burling has been one of several core members at the heart of the team’s revival since the heartbreak of their 2013 defeat by Oracle Team USA in San Francisco, where Team NZ coughed up an 8-1 lead in the best-to-nine series.

In Bermuda four years later, Team New Zealand were in the rare position of having to win eight races in a best-to-seven series. Because Oracle Team USA finished at the top of the standings in the qualifiers, the challenger started the Cup match on –1.

Team NZ took the Cup from the American team with a 7-1 win.

They followed that up in 2021 in Auckland, beating Italian syndicate Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli in the Cup match 7-3 to defend the Auld Mug in the first edition to feature the AC75 foiling monohulls.

Now 4-0 up in the Cup match against Ineos Britannia, the Kiwis are well on their way to becoming the first team to win the Cup in three-straight regattas.

However, just over halfway home, Team NZ were still chasing improvements in their performance.

Tomorrow, the America’s Cup match observes its first reserve day, which gives the teams the opportunity to dive into the data and find where they might be able to get a bit more out of their boat as they head into the home stretch of the regatta.

“There are a huge amount of gains,” Burling said.

“From our good tacks to our bad tacks, every manoeuvre, the sea state makes things really hard to be consistent and we feel like we’re improving a lot every day.

“It’s amazing the way we’ve got so many people back at the base going over all the data; it’s really cool to see how quick our progression is at the moment.”

This article was first published on nzherald.co.nz and is republished here with permission