As if the veteran sailors aboard the untouchable Black Magic needed any outside help, they watched as Luna Rossa gave away the lead by making a colossal tactical blunder. Black Magic sailed off to a 4-0 lead in the best-of-9 series that resumed after two straight postponements due to lack of wind.

	Prada crosses in front of Team New Zealand on the first leg of Race 4. The lead didn't last.

New Zealand, which won by 1 minute, 49 seconds, can wrap up the series Thursday and become the first country other than the United States to defend the oldest trophy in sports.

After the race, Patrizio Bertelli, head of the Prada Challenge that's backing Luna Rossa, blasted his crew's decision not to cover Black Magic as "suicidal tactics gave the race away to Team New Zealand on Russell Coutts' 38th birthday."

Bertelli, who's married to the head of the Prada design house, is spending some $55 million on this challenge.

"I thought we made a birthday present to Russell," said Luna Rossa tactician Torben Grael, who made the call to give up the right side and its favored starboard tack advantage. "Essentially it was. It wasn't intended. I think we are the first ones to feel bad about it. Patrizio has all the right to be upset as well."

However, Grael said the crew "didn't see it as a suicide. We thought we were doing the right thing and it ended up we were not. It's part of racing. Sometimes it can go right or sometimes it goes wrong, and when it goes wrong, it might seem a little stupid."

Coutts, who tied an America's Cup record with his ninth straight win in the finals, said the Kiwis were concerned whether they had made the right move by swapping sides of the course with Luna Rossa.

"It's a tough place to sail out there and we got the roll of the dice on that occasion. That gave us an advantage and that was the first big break of the race," Coutts said.

As usual, there were only low-key congratulations aboard Black Magic: handshakes, pats on the back and a quick smile and wave from Coutts.

That could all change if the Kiwis win Thursday.

In closing in on their second straight 5-0 finals victory, the Kiwis are establishing themselves among the most dominating crews in America's Cup history.

Coutts tied Charlie Barr's record of nine straight victories, set in three defenses from 1899-1903 when the New York Yacht Club turned back the first three of five straight challenges by tea baron Sir Thomas Lipton.

Coutts skippered Team New Zealand to a 5-0 victory over Dennis Conner off San Diego in 1995. Australia, the only other country to take the America's Cup from the United States, couldn't hold onto it as Conner came Down Under in 1987 and won it back in a 4-0 rout off Fremantle.

Grael, an America's Cup rookie, gave away a two-length lead on the upwind first leg by failing to stay between Black Magic and the buoy marking the end of the leg.

The Italians had the right side from the start, but Grael apparently thought the wind would be better on the left side, so he didn't cover Black Magic the third time the boats crossed. The Kiwis dipped behind and onto the right side.

The left side was favored at the start but the breeze quickly shifted to the right.

Black Magic forced Luna Rossa to make an extra tack to get on the layline leading into the buoy and took a 45-second lead.

Grael said Luna Rossa lost communication with its weather boats shortly before the start and couldn't hear the final advice for predicting the wind shifts.

"We sail, the wind changes, I think you have to play it by ear," said Luna Rossa skipper Francesco de Angelis, also an America's Cup rookie. "We thought the wind was going to shift back left. That's why we took that option."

Luna Rossa trimmed the lead to 39 seconds sailing downwind, but Black Magic removed any suspense by taking a 1:39 lead sailing back into the wind for the second time on the six-leg, 18.5-mile course.

The Kiwis have led at all 45 turning marks dating to the first race of the 1995 Cup final.

Wednesday was originally a lay day, but organizers, the teams and TV rights holders decided to race following Tuesday's postponement, the fourth racing day lost due to lack of wind on the Hauraki Gulf. The breeze at the start was about 9 knots.

The Kiwis unveiled yet another innovation when they flew a headsail called a Code 0 gennaker during the prestart. The sail, bigger than a jib, is designed to give extra speed on the downwind entry into the starting box and is thought to be especially effective in light wind. The sail wasn't a major factor, but the Kiwis did win the start.