A rusty Team New Zealand have missed out on a hat-trick of America's Cup World Series match-racing finals after being beaten by Americans Oracle Racing in California.
Team NZ skipper Dean Barker and his crew, the overall series leaders, went down 2-0 at the semi-final stage of the San Diego regatta on Saturday (NZT).
They will race off against Sweden's Artemis for third place on Sunday, while Oracle, skippered by America's Cup-winning helmsman James Spithill, will meet France's Energy Team in the final.
Team NZ coach Rod Davis says Spithill and his crew simply outsailed the New Zealanders on the day.
"There's no way of spin-doctoring that," he said.
"This time they were the polished act. For us it was a case of just too much rust to deal with in the time we had."
The ACWS is sailed in AC45 catamarans, a smaller version of the AC72s that will be used for the next America's Cup.
Davis said Team NZ's focus since the last ACWS regatta at Plymouth in England had been on testing and developing ideas for the AC72.
While losing was difficult to accept, he said the big picture was the AC72 as that was what would win the Auld Mug.
Team NZ reached the final in the first two ACWS events, losing to Oracle at Cascais in Portugal and beating Team Korea at Plymouth.
NZN