Australian Nathan Outteridge has been shot down from his America's Cup high after the skipper's Swedish team Artemis Racing was controversially penalised to hand Team New Zealand victory in their qualifier race.
A day after guiding Artemis to a rare victory over two-time defending champions Team USA, Outteridge and Artemis were twice sanctioned during Monday's race in Bermuda.
The Swedish team was forced to drop two-boat lengths behind the Kiwis as punishment for crossing the start early on the prestigious regatta's third day.
Then having caught their rivals, race officials ruled Team Sweden were in breach of the rules when they accelerated past the Kiwis as both boats exited the sixth and final gate.
It was ruled the Swedish crew didn't leave enough room for Team NZ's AC50 catamaran to safely turn.
But officials later said the ruling was incorrect.
"Our job is to be certain that Artemis Racing were keeping clear, and we weren't at that time certain they were keeping clear," America's Cup Race Management chief umpire Richard Slater said.
"We have looked at other evidence ... and I think if we were to go back in time and make that call, we would green that call and not penalise Artemis."
The ensuing penalty handed the Peter Burling-skippered New Zealand their fourth victory, as many as defending champions Team USA after the first round-robin phase of the challenger qualifying series.
It was a dramatic end to a gripping race, which featured nine lead changes.
The Swedes are 2-3, alongside Team Japan and Team France, while Britain's BAR are 1-4.
Burling was at odds with Sweden's bitter reaction to the late penalty ruling.
Burling said safety had to be a priority when the fast AC50 catamarans round gates.
"These boats, when you're coming in at 40 knots, you need a little bit more room than that," he said.
"We were just turning the boat as hard as we could and I think we were pretty lucky not to end up on our side.
"Both teams sailed a great race and we were just fortunate to come away with it in the end."
Ben Ainslie's BAR suffered a shock defeat at the hands of an increasingly confident Team France on Monday.
It was the fourth loss for the British crew and the second victory for underdogs Team France, who won by 53 seconds.
In the day's other race, Team Japan dominated Team France after a text-book start by skipper Dean Barker.
