America's Cup Louis Vuitton Cup Day 3 Report 3. Defender is Back, Shortened Courses, LRPP win 2.

With such a good line-up, it’s all eyes on the weather today in Barcelona with Iain Murray briefing this morning that he was expecting a more gradient wind today of 8 to 11 knots from the east-south-east, less reliant on the thermal breeze.

An interesting speed test in store. At the start, American Magic cleverly sails clear of Luna Rossa’s wing-wash before gybing to follow and then sets up in a leeward but lead position to start well in the port quarter of the line. Luna Rossa is forced to tack off after an uncustomary lacklustre start and heads to the right boundary. At the cross back, it’s a huge gain to the Americans who slam an immediate cover on. Split tactics with the Americans playing the left boundary and the Italians, the right boundary and in this breeze, it feels like the race is in the hands of the wind Gods. At the top of the 1.4 nautical mile windward leg, both boats round alternate marks with the delta of two seconds just shaded by American Magic. Too close to call and it’s split tactics down the first run as the Race Committee shorten the course legs to 1.2 nautical miles.