Sir Ben Ainslie found himself at the centre of the biggest flashpoint as the America's Cup qualifiers started in Bermuda.
Ainslie's Land Rover BAR team produced a stunning performance to beat in-form Swedish rivals Artemis in their opening race.
It was a display that made their rivals sit up and take notice, with the British boat showing impressive speed that has been absent in recent practice races.
However, the four-time Olympic champion then became involved in a start line collision in his second race against SoftBank Team Japan.
Race officials ruled Ainslie at fault and his crew nursed the boat, which was taking in water, to the finish, where his shore crew started working through the night ahead of Sunday's next races.
"To be honest, to me it appeared six of one and half a dozen of the other," said Ainslie. "The collision was obviously unfortunate but these things happen when you are racing these boats.
"It was fantastic just to see us competing and up to speed with all of the others. I believe we have silenced a lot of our doubters.
"Going into this competition, I think a lot of seasoned observers had written us off, saying that we didn't have a chance.
"We came out when it counts and beat a really, really good Artemis team. So I can be proud of our team, and where we have come from and the potential we have to move forwards, this is hugely positive for the team.
"The boat is pretty badly damaged, with a sizeable hole in the port hull. It was a great effort by the team to get the boat around the course in the state that it was in.
"It's now down to the shore team to work their magic and fix the damage and try to get us back out for racing. They are great guys, they've got us through some pretty rough patches in the past and hopefully they can do it again."
Six teams are involved in a week of head-to-head racing after which defending champions Oracle Team USA will progress straight to the America's Cup match and four others will advance to the play-off semi-finals and finals for the right to take them on.
Ainslie's crew - including Rio 2016 Team GB gold medallist Giles Scott - are currently tied at the top of the qualifiers series rankings, thanks to their win over Sweden and two-points from last year's America's Cup World Series.
Sportsbeat 2017