Nervous Kiwis questioned whether Emirates Team New Zealand were choking on Tuesday after they again failed to secure the single victory needed to seize the America’s Cup from Oracle Team USA.
The New Zealanders have needed just one win since last Wednesday - when they led the regatta 8-1 - but the Americans have stormed back with five straight victories in San Francisco Bay to make it 8-6.
The New Zealand media late last week was confidently examining the economic spin-offs of hosting the next regatta in Auckland and speculating on knighthoods for the catamaran’s crew.
Since then, coverage has turned to agonised reflection on how Team NZ raced to such a commanding lead but has failed thus far to land a killer blow in the face of a barnstorming fightback from Oracle.
“The question now on everyone’s mind is: Are Team New Zealand blowing it?” TV3 reporter Hilary Barry wrote from California under the headline “America’s Cup this year biggest choke in NZ sport?”
Wellington’s Dominion Post newspaper splashed the headline “In the doldrums” across the front page, contrasting the chipper demeanour of Oracle’s Australian skipper Jimmy Spithill to Team NZ’s Dean Barker.
The New Zealand Herald simply ran a giant black and white photograph on its front page of a hand with fingers crossed.