Outteridge crew beats Burling in two-boat battle to win Race 4 at Sardinia

Four boats locked in close quarters, a shifting breeze, and a race that ultimately hinged on a single jibe. Nathan Outteridge, Seb Menzies, Andy Maloney and Iain Jensen, sailing as Emirates Team New Zealand's principal crew, held their nerve to cross the line ahead of Peter Burling and Ruggero Tita and take Race 4. The two boats had effectively been running a match race for the better part of the day.

GB1's problems showed no sign of resolving on Saturday morning. Technical failures forced the Challenger of Record back to shore before the start, adding another blank to a tally that already contained three races and nothing competitive to show for them. Among the British entries, Hannah Mills and Athena Pathway remain the only names registering any meaningful presence in the fleet.

The Bay of Angels presented a more cooperative face than it had on the opening day. Wind settled in the ten to twelve knot range, the sea stayed relatively calm, and the punishing chop that had caused so much disruption on Day 1 was largely absent. With the foils better behaved, racing tightened up considerably. Technical sailing replaced damage limitation, and the margins between boats reflected that shift.

The start sequence was far from orderly. La Roche-Posay crossed early and had to return for a restart. Luna Rossa's Women and Youth crew faced a far more damaging sequence of events, collecting a boat-on-boat penalty and then failing to get the boat foiling before the gun. Marco Gradoni and Margherita Porro found themselves stranded at the start line while the rest of the fleet worked upwind. Their afternoon grew more complicated from there. The race computer failed mid-race, leaving the pair to judge lay lines and crossing distances using nothing but their own eyes for much of the contest.

Luna Rossa's principal boat went out early and imposed itself on the race. Burling and Tita seized the lead and drew Outteridge and Menzies into a two-boat contest that reduced the remaining fleet to the role of onlookers. There was a particular charge to this battle. Burling was racing on waters where he claimed three consecutive America's Cups, now pushing hard against the very teammates he had once stood alongside. He fought for every crossing and surrendered nothing willingly.

The decisive moment came on the second upwind leg, where ETNZ found pace on the right side of the course, rounded the top gate in front, and converted clean mark roundings into a lead they carried into the final run. A jibe placed precisely in front of the Italians at the finish closed off any reply. Burling searched for a gap to drive through and came up empty.

ETNZ's principal crew took the win, with Luna Rossa's principal crew across the line in second. ETNZ's women and youth combination of Erica Dawson, Jake Pye, Serena Woodall and Josh Armit completed a composed, error-free race to finish third, giving the New Zealand programme two boats inside the top three.

Luna Rossa's Women and Youth crew turned a chaotic start into something considerably more respectable by the finish. A penalty, a failure to foil off the line, and an extended stretch of racing without functioning instruments had made fourth place look like an unlikely outcome early on. They took it anyway.

La Roche-Posay came through in fifth after completing their restart penalty. Athena Pathway recovered from a mid-race splashdown to claim sixth, and Tudor Team Alinghi endured a difficult afternoon on the water to finish seventh.

Post-race, Nathan Outteridge was relaxed. The breeze had been gusty and patchy enough to keep the race live right through to the finish, Luna Rossa had pushed them at every opportunity, and the final run had required precise, attentive work from the whole crew. Andy Maloney, behind him, was visibly satisfied.

Luna Rossa's Women and Youth team sit at the top of the overall standings, six points clear of ETNZ's principal crew. Just a single point separates ETNZ and Luna Rossa's principal boats from each other, and that same one-point margin divides Luna Rossa and ETNZ's Women and Youth crew further down the standings. With two more races still to run on the day, the order remains fluid enough that nothing is settled.