Tauranga sailor Andrew Knowles was 'utterly shocked” to see Team New Zealand almost capsize their boat during the 34^th America's Cup final this morning. And he says the next races are going to get a whole lot more exciting.

Tauranga Sailor Andrew Knowles.

Watching the eighth America's Cup race from his Tauranga home this morning, Andrew – a keen Team New Zealand supporter – was surprised how fast the opposition boat was travelling up wind.

'I thought it was going to be another New Zealand easy victory and all of a sudden Oracle started coming back pretty hard.”

Despite Oracle's speed – Andrew says Team New Zealand was handling things well - until they made a 'surprising” tacking decision - tipping the boat on a 45 degree angle and nearly capsizing.

'I was a bit surprised that Team New Zealand chose to tack when they did when they nearly capsized the boat. Just on the positioning I thought they would've been able to cross and keep going which I thought was a better option but I'm not as good as those guys.

'I was utterly shocked when they nearly capsized.”

After a great start to race nine, Andrew was disappointed the race was abandoned due to wind speeds increasing up to 30 knots.

'Team New Zealand's quite capable of a whole lot more than that.”

Andrew is looking forward to the races picking up again tomorrow.

'It's going to be very exciting. I think it's going to get a whole lot more exciting.”

Team New Zealand still needs three victories to win the America's Cup and Oracle now needs nine after claiming a crucial victory in today's race.