Kiwis Win The Americas Cup

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Extremely proud to be a Kiwi today, with not only winning the America's Cup, but with winning it in style and from a position of being underfunded underdogs. And as the headline in the New Zealand Herald newspaper stated, we did it with, "pride, integrity and style".

 

Grant Dalton the Emirates Team New Zealand boss also said, "The biggest software company in the world just got beaten by little old New Zealand software."

 

Dalton said that unlike Oracle Team USA, Team New Zealand would respect how the America's Cup is run and make it a fair event for all teams.

"They were good competition but I think what's important, and this is a key message we want to relay going forward, is that it's a privilege to hold the America's Cup - it's not a right. And was embodied in the way Team New Zealand was under Sir Peter Blake. If you're good enough to take it from us then you will and we'll try very hard to be good enough to keep it. We won't turn it so to make sure you can't."

 

This last paragraph related to the fact that at every turn Larry Ellison had tried to ensure that the rules were in the holders favour (unfairly so according to many pundits) and being the defender he was able to do so, thereby placing obstacles in the way of any challenger.

 

IMO Larry Ellison made it into a kind of one-man circus and again in my opinion, took it away from what seamanship and sailing were all about in the monohulls and introduced the catamaran style. That Emirates team New Zealand were able to build a boat which was different from every other boat out there and utilise Kiwi skill, ingenuity and not a little tech savvy, on a limited budget compared to that of Oracle, makes this victory even greater and sweeter.

 

Well done Peter Burling and the ETNZ team.

 

 

[melvinmelvin]

Well sailed. Congratulations.

 

Re multi hulls, thought it was US and Dennis C that introduced that idea.

 

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1 hour ago, melvinmelvin said:

Well sailed. Congratulations.

 

Re multi hulls, thought it was US and Dennis C that introduced that idea.

 

Certainly when the NZ syndicate of Fay Richwhite challenged the USA for the America's Cup in 1988 there was a huge mis-match because Conner/USA built a catamaran whereas NZ had built the customary monohull yacht.

 

NZ challenged that fact but a USA judge ruled it was ällowable!!! Anyway it was a fiasco and Connor gloated about it calling the Kiwis, "sore losers"...............!!

 

Team NZ won it in a monohull contest in 1995 and then in 2000, losing it in 2003 (again monohull). 

 

Once Larry Ellison won it he changed everything so it became, IMO the circus it is today......so glad it is back with a great yet small sporting nation that "punches well above its weight".

 

As an aside, I sailed (with the help of skipper David Barnes) that 1988 challenger monohull in Auckland harbour and it was a huge, huge boat, built with the latest lightweight technology and it was awesome. Inside it there was nothing but a lightweight and small aluminium 'ribcage' in the middle to help with the stress load, then the hull was made of a sort of honeycomb and resin composite, so lightweight that you could balance a square metre of it on your little finger.....just amazing.

[melvinmelvin]

I was actually in San Diego on the final day of that that cup, great fun!

 

I sense we can have a lot to discuss.

 

I don't think its fair to say that Fay built the customary monohull, he departed grossly from the customary 12mR,

but permissible under the deed.

 

With some hindsight (the only true wisdom) I actually think Connor/Fay did the sport a favour that time in the late 80s,

it opened the way for high tech stuff never seen before as well as for sailing that could amuse a general public in stead

of being a "specialty dish" for the few.

 

Another Kiwi I remember with great amusement was the plastic fantastic guy, he also helped taking the sport

out of its narrow box.

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2 minutes ago, melvinmelvin said:

I don't think its fair to say that Fay built the customary monohull

True enough, his version was a huge beast (but amazing to sail), but trumped by a catamaran!!

 

Personally I prefer the old way of the mono-hull as it needed a lot more seamanship and skill, not to mention luck!