New Zealand up 4-0 on Britannia in America's Cup and needs 3 more wins to retain title

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Emirates Team New Zealand is halfway to retaining the America’s Cup after going up 4-0 on INEOS Britannia in the finals on Monday.

The cup will go to the first yacht to reach seven wins.

New Zealand's Taihoro made it four from four off the Barcelona beachfront after beating Britannia by 23 seconds. The yachts exchanged leads in the first leg then the Kiwis made steady gains and were more than 350 meters in front when they crossed the finish line.

“It’s nice just to keep marching forward,” low-key New Zealand skipper Peter Burling said.

Burling's curbing of any enthusiasm likely comes from his team's scalding at the 2013 America's Cup, where it was up 8-1 but collapsed and lost 9-8 to Oracle Team USA in San Francisco bay.

The team led by Grant Dalton rebounded from that with cup victories in 2017 and 2021 and are on course to become the first syndicate to triumph three times on the trot.

And, ominously for Britannia, Burling said his team still has room to improve.

“(There's) a long way to go. I don’t think any team knows it better than us,” Burling said. “We obviously have a lot of things to work on as well. It feels like we haven’t really sailed to our potential yet.”

The British admitted to frustration as their quest to win the America's Cup for the first time in the race's 173-year history fades.

“There is a lot of frustration on the team. Where we are right now is not where we want to be,” Britannia trimmer Bleddyn Mon said. “But there is a lot of drive on the team, and everyone here knew it was going to be a real battle against the Kiwis."

The challenger will have Tuesday to plot a fightback before sailing resumes on Wednesday with match races five and six.

“It is a good opportunity to take a day on shore and try to figure out how we can find some gains,” Britannia skipper Ben Ainslie said. “They are clearly going really well. We have our moments, but still there are moments where we are losing a click and I think that is the difference."

Britannia impressed in the challenger series when it made huge gains in speed and beat four rivals from Italy, United States, Switzerland and France. It counts on the design and engineering prowess of its partnership with the Mercedes Formula 1 team.

But the Kiwis, with their in-house design team, have a clear edge.

Burling’s crew have executed flawlessly while also sailing aggressively. After nailing Britannia with a pre-start penalty when the two 75-foot foiling boats almost crashed on Sunday, the Taihoro and Britannia made several close crosses in race four.

Ainslie’s boat started well enough by pinning Taihoro to the port boundary, but once the latter got away and found more wind on the other side of the race track it was able to cruise away.

New Zealand may be leveraging one of its advantages. While Britannia had to make a boat that could sail from late summer until now, the Kiwis were able to concentrate all their efforts on getting a boat ready just for one week in the cooler weather of mid-October.

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Ineos Britannia crew warms up for the Louis Vuitton 37th America's Cup Day 3 race 4 in Barcelona, Spain, on Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

Emirates Team New Zealand prepares for the Louis Vuitton 37th America's Cup Day 3 race 4 in Barcelona, Spain, on Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

Emirates Team New Zealand crew warms up for the Louis Vuitton 37th America's Cup Day 3 race 4 in Barcelona, Spain, on Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

Ineos Britannia and Emirates Team New Zealand warm-up for the Louis Vuitton 37th America's Cup Day 3 race 4 in Barcelona, Spain, Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

Emirates Team New Zealand crew races duringthe Louis Vuitton 37th America's Cup Day 3 race 4 in Barcelona, Spain, on Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

Ineos Britannia and Emirates Team New Zealand race during the Louis Vuitton 37th America's Cup Day 3 race 4 in Barcelona, Spain, Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

CANYON DE CHELLY NATIONAL MONUMENT, Ariz. (AP) — Commercial air tours will soon be prohibited over Canyon de Chelly National Monument in northeastern Arizona under a plan approved this week by the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Park Service.

The park service said in a statement that the plan was was signed Thursday and will take effect in 180 days, barring any legal challenges. It will ban the tours over the park and within a half mile (800 meters) outside its boundary.

“Prohibiting commercial air tours protects these lands’ cultural and spiritual significance to the Navajo Nation,” said park Superintendent Lyn Carranza. “Canyon de Chelly National Monument’s Air Tour Management Plan honors the unique nation-to-nation relationship regarding decisions affecting the park and helps to preserve one of the most important archeological landscapes in the southwest.”

The park lies within the Four Corners region inside the Navajo Nation and is among the most visited national monuments in the United States. It's known for its soaring sandstone cliffs and 800-foot (244-meter) high Spider Rock spire. Prehistoric rock art is found throughout the area, which has been home to Native Americans for millennia.

The sightseeing flights reportedly date back to the 1930s, when crews building the Hoover Dam on the Arizona-Nevada border asked helicopter pilots working on the project to give flyovers to their families.

The tours offering a unique overhead view of spectacular landscapes have long been popular at Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona. Some of the nation’s busiest spots for tour operators have included Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, which is home to one of the world’s most active volcanoes, and Haleakala National Park.

Supporters of the tours say they offer an exciting experience to tourists and allow older people and those with disabilities to see and enjoy the parks. Critics say the flights are an unnecessarily dangerous way to view some of the most stunning public lands in the United States.

Rules designating routes and minimum altitudes were set in 1986 after two tour aircraft collided over the Grand Canyon, killing 25 people. Still, there are currently numerous options for helicopter tours to the Grand Canyon, departing from places including Las Vegas and Sedona, Arizona.

Critics also complain that the buzz of helicopters drowns out the sounds of nature, disrupting the experiences of visitors on the ground and tribal members who call the land around the parks home.

The park service works with the FAA to implement the National Park Air Tour Management Act of 2000, which requires tour operators who want to conduct such commercial air tours to get FAA approval. The law also requires the FAA, in conjunction with the park service, to establish management plans for air tours for those parks and nearby tribal lands where applications are made.

Canyon de Chelly is the last of roughly two dozen national park units where the group Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility had fought for flyover restrictions. Other national parks where such commercial flyovers essentially are or will be banned in coming years include Badlands National Park and Mount Rushmore National Memorial in South Dakota, Glacier National Park in Montana, and Bandelier National Monument in New Mexico. Only two air tours per year are allowed at Death Valley National Park along the California-Nevada border.

FILE - The vast landscape opens up inside Canyon de Chelly National Monument, May 30, 2010, near Chinle, Ariz. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, File)