Emirates Team New Zealand have won both of the opening races in the America's Cup and need just seven more victories to claim the Auld Mug.

Oracle Team USA might have the advantage today. It's all set for the first race against Emirates Team NZ for the 34th America's Cup.

The commodore of the Royal NZ Yacht Squadron - the yacht club behind Team New Zealand - was fuming last night at what he said was a calculated snub by the America's Cup Event Authority, the body set up by Oracle Team USA to run the event.

Team New Zealand were last night left wondering why only 17 tickets came their way to an 800-person America's Cup cocktail party do at Pier 19.

Larry Ellison's book The Billionaire And The Mechanic opens with a powerful chapter about Ellison, his yacht Sayonara, and the 1998 Sydney to Hobart yacht race when six sailors died and 55 were rescued by helicopter.

Landmark speeds upwards of 50 miles an hour are on the cards when the America's Cup finals get underway tomorrow morning.

James Spithill is tired. He's got a big zit erupting out of his ginger stubble, he looks drawn and it's not hard to see the pressure is telling on him.

Hanging precariously off the side of his 30ft sloop as it bashes upwind through the agitated seas approaching the Golden Gate Bridge, Mike Peterson is in his element.

Despite all the drama and controversy that has marred the build-up to this America's Cup, there has never been so much expectation and intrigue attached to an opening race.

Team New Zealand is a remarkable organisation. It ought to have disappeared, quietly, years ago.

Wynyard Quarter and a wharf extension to Halsey St are shaping up as the preferred waterfront locations should the America's Cup come back to New Zealand.

Dana Johannsen evaluates the Cup contenders

They couldn't be more different in personality, but America's Cup skippers Dean Barker and Jimmy Spithill have one thing in common according to Team New Zealand and former Oracle trimmer Glenn Ashby: "They both want to kill each other."

For the first time in the history of the America's Cup, young, talented sailors have a clear pathway towards competing for one of the most prestigious trophies in sport.

Herald on Sundays' Paul Lewis spoke to Team New Zealand designer Pete Melvin - one of the masterminds behind the AC72 class -who says upwind foiling is more likely to be used as means of providing short bursts of speed to position themselves optimally on the race course.

Just when you thought we were ready to go racing, yet another America's Cup jury hearing is under way in San Francisco.

Defiant Oracle Team USA skipper Jimmy Spithill promised his team would "never give up" and called for US fan support as pre-race preparation enters its last hours.

Sailor X was the anonymous sailor who also appeared likely to be excluded from the event but whose case was dismissed by the jury.

Team New Zealand aren't the only New Zealand natives creating waves in San Francisco - so are the pohutukawa.

The sole upwind leg in the short, five-leg sprint course accounts for 30 per cent of the race, and is where we're likely to see some intriguing tactical battles playing out between Team New Zealand and Oracle.

It's hard to imagine there will be many Kiwis cheering on Sir Russell Coutts' Oracle team as they begin their defence of the America's Cup against Team NZ.

Trying to pick the winner of the 34th America's Cup is like opening a jar of coffee beans, picking two out and trying to decide which is tastier. Without tasting them.

The eagerly awaited "Coutts v Dalts" pre-America's Cup showdown doesn't look as though it will eventuate.