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Andy Rice  //  As a full-time sailing journalist, I report on most of the sailing ‘Majors’, including the America’s Cup, the Olympic Games, the Volvo, and so on.

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May 16 / 9:12am

Kiwis on a roll in Cascais

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Emirates Team New Zealand has stretched out their lead in the Portugal Trophy after winning the coastal race for the first time in their Audi MedCup history.

Dean Barker and his crew on board NZL380 dominated the 38-mile race running between Cascais and Lisbon, relishing the strong northerly winds which gusted over 25 knots.  

Today’s victory – Emirates Team New Zealand’s first in a coastal race in six Audi MedCup regattas – has given the defending champions a 14-point lead going into tomorrow’s final two races.

“We’ve got a nice little buffer now,” said Barker.

“It was a perfect course for us today, and we were determined to come out of the blocks firing.”

Emirates Team New Zealand was second off the startline behind closest rivals TeamOrigin, but took the lead around the first mark off Cabo Raso, the western tip of Cascais.  But as they rounded, their gennaker exploded, allowing TeamOrigin back into the battle.

“We blew out the chute on the hoist, but the guys did a fantastic job to recover, and we passed TeamOrigin again,” Barker said.

NZL380 then established a sizeable lead at the end of the run, continuing to build on that, gib-reaching to the eastern end of the course at the historic Belem Tower on Lisbon’s River Tajo.

At the finish directly off the Marina of Cascais breakwater, Emirates Team New Zealand crossed line one and a half minutes ahead of the next boat, Matador, of Argentina, which had Italian Francesco Bruni calling tactics.