Grant Dalton’s Kiwi Hat Trick
Like a family reunion you wish would never end, the Louis Vuitton 37th America’s Cup is over. Now the speculation of when, where and who for the 38th edition begins.
The past few weeks, like the blazingly fast foiling monohulls that “fly” over the course at warp speed, this event seemed to end as soon as it began. Barcelona, hosting the Cup races for the third time, outdid itself, and is certainly in the running for a fourth opportunity.
When Emirates Team New Zealand CEO and boss Grant Dalton pulled up the tent stakes and moved the event from the Hauraki Gulf in Auckland to this sprawling city on the Mediterranean, it was met with a certain amount of controversy and public outcry, as the Kiwis are passionate about their America’s Cup and there was concern that they might lose “home court advantage.”
But Dalton made his point and proved the skeptics wrong as the final score was 7-2 over Great Britain’s INEOS Britannia. Emirates Team New Zealand (ETNZ) has now won twice and defended three times.
On the final downwind leg to the finish, the Kiwis sailed a textbook race, jibing off the right boundary and flying down the course before a final jibe on the port layline angled them to the finish line and the history books to win by 37 seconds. For Sir Ben Ainslie and the British, it might as well have been an hour. As soon as INEOS Britannia crossed the line, they were quick to round up and applaud the victorious ETNZ crew, as Taihoro was almost immediately surrounded by an armada of spectator boats and supporters.
ETNZ has completed a modern-era hat trick. As strong as this group of Challengers appeared to be, New Zealand quickly erased any doubt that they are a dynasty. With the trio of Peter Burling, Blair Tuke, and Nathan Outteridge on board, and the design wizard Dan Bernasconi inventing miracles on the fly, it may be a long time before the Auld Mug has a new master as Defender/Trustee.
“It’s a pretty surreal feeling; it’s still definitely sinking in. In the America’s Cup, you’re all ready for a long battle, but to be able to get it done in just beautiful sailing conditions, with a little bit of shift in it and just so many people cheering us on, was amazing,” said Burling. “It will be interesting to go back and review a couple parts of the race. It felt like we had the boat going really good but couldn’t buy a shift at times. We got a relatively even start, they were quite close, so we just decided to get out to the right that we really liked, but yeah, really pleased the way we just continued to improve through the week. The boat was feeling awesome today and it was a real team effort.”
INEOS Britannia, representing the Royal Yacht Squadron, was a worthy opponent, as Ainslie earned more than just a participation prize — his first win marked the first time the British had won an America’s Cup race in nearly a century!
