Emirates Team New Zealand experienced a mixed day with a first, last and middle of the field result on the opening day of the Audi MedCup circuit off Cascais on Wednesday.
But ETNZ wasn't alone as several crews were similarly buffeted.
ETNZ ended the day in eighth place in the 11-crew event, five points behind British team Cristabella.
Skipper Dean Barker said: "We were up and down when we didn't really need to be.
"But we take heart from the fact that even though we sailed like that, we're only five points off the leader. The boat is going well, the guys are sailing it well, and we have good speed.
"In some ways it feels like we're shaking the dust and the cobwebs out a little bit. I think everyone obviously feels better finishing the last race in good fashion, so tomorrow we just need to come out firing and get some good results on the board."
Barker said the team had a 'pretty ordinary start' to the first race for sixth place. The second race saw the team 'completely out of phase', but it came back to get a good start in the third to lead all the way.
"We made mistakes in the first two races and we got punished for it. With this standard of boats and this difficult race course, you have to be sailing well consistently. It's going to be tough to keep stringing good consistent result together.
"We take heart knowing we haven't taken ourselves out of contention, and with a good day tomorrow we will be right back in," he said.
Standings are Day One:
Cristabella (Britain) 13 points, 1, Quantum Racing (USA) 14 2, Matador (Argentina) 14 3, Synergy (Russia) 15 4, Team Origin (Britain) 15 5, Artemis (Sweden) 16 6, Luna Rossa (Italy) 17 7, Emirates Team New Zealand (NZ) 18 8, All4One (France/Germany) 20 9.Bigamist (Portugal) 26 10, Bribon (Spain) 30 11.