{{Emirates Team New Zealand beat billionaire Larry Ellison’s Oracle Team USA in the first race in the final series of the 34th America’s Cup sailing regatta on Saturday on San Francisco Bay.}}
In the first of two races on Saturday, which kicked off a best-of-17 final series to win the Cup, the two teams’ catamarans nearly collided on several occasions as they crisscrossed the bay. New Zealand was slightly ahead at the start and was passed by Oracle for a short time before regaining its lead and winning the race.
It was the first neck-and-neck race in the regatta after two months of relatively tame qualifying matches easily dominated by the Kiwis.
The final series of matches is culmination of a regatta plagued by controversies including cheating by Oracle, dangerous catamarans, a fatal accident and accusations of mismanagement.
The latest setback came on Tuesday, when an international jury docked Oracle two points and kicked three team members out of the event for adding illegal weight to boats used in a previous preparatory Cup competition.
The penalties, unprecedented in the history of the 162-year-old event, are a big boost for New Zealand, which demolished other would-be challengers in qualifying races in July and August.
Bookmakers see the Kiwis as favorites to take the America’s Cup from Oracle although, in a twist of fate, they are now up against one of their country’s most accomplished sailors.
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