America's Cup 2013: Ben Ainslie stars to keep Oracle Team USA hopes alive There were fears that the sighting of a whale in San Francisco Bay on Saturday might scupper chances of racing yesterday but unusually there were no disruptions for whales or weather with a moderate if patchy 15 knot breeze and a flood tide delivering perfect sailing conditions. It was the fourth day in a row that the Kiwis started on match point having won six of the first seven races but only two of the last six yet once again it was Jimmy Spithill's team who made the best start in both the races, having once again won the port tack entry, which were swiftly converted into big gains and emphatic wins. Ainslie's influence in both results was clear as it has been since he took over as tactician on Oracle a week ago. His tactical calls have been consistently strong and intuitive and his 20 years experience as one of the most merciless competitors on the Olympic circuit brought to bear on Oracle's performance to effect a complete turnaround in fortunes. When he took over, the Americans were trailing the Kiwis by five points having been docked two points before the start for cheating in the America's Cup World Series and losing all but one of the five races. Their boat handling came under fire and the boat was noticeably slower upwind. At their worse point, they were 8-1 down with the Kiwis needing one more victory to claim back the Cup. But Ainslie's arrival coincided with some key modifications to the boat and in the 10 days since he took over, their boat handling has seen a dramatic improvement and they have swept to victory in seven out of ten races in a remarkable comeback. Skipper Spithill paid tributes to both Ainslie and strategist Tom Slingsby, the Australian Olympic gold medallist, and said there was more work to be done on their AC72. "Tommy and Benny did a fantastic job," he said. It was all about tactics and they were really under pressure but they kept their cool and sailed two great races. We hope to get more out of the old girl yet. We found extra increases and it has made all the difference. The win left Oracle still trailing the Kiwis by just three points and needing four more race wins to retain the Cup while Emirates Team New Zealand were still needing one more win to take the Cup back to Auckland.