Dalton: Hands off our talent
Keep your hands off our talent.
In no uncertain terms, that is the message Team New Zealand boss Grant Dalton has sent to potential America’s Cup challengers in the days since his syndicate reclaimed the Auld Mug.
Dalton’s immense pride was clear to see and hear as the Kiwi team were welcomed home by hundreds of fans at Auckland Airport yesterday.
The team’s chief executive had been through many emotions since they sealed a 7-1 thumping of Oracle Team USA in the Cup match in Bermuda early last week, the overriding feeling being the desire to get home and share their success with the nation.
After he had reflected on an ‘‘unbelievable’’ return to New Zealand soil, though, attention quickly turned to the future and the decisions to be made.
One of those was the retention of those team members – sailors, designers or otherwise – that had been crucial to winning back the oldest trophy in world sport.
Dalton said a $5 million grant from the government was a great start but added he had let other syndicates know how he felt about the poaching of the Kiwi team’s talent.
‘‘There is a message to teams that try to do that to us because we are always the team that gets stripped,’’ he said..
‘‘We are the easy one in that respect, we don’t have the money [but] I’ll view that very badly if you’re trying to challenge [for the Cup] and trying to strip us at the same time.
‘‘I’ve made that clear to one team already.’’
While there are now many decisions for the new Cup holders to make, Dalton mirrored the comments of skipper Glenn Ashby and young helmsman Peter Burling that their only initial focus was enjoying the success with the country, their family and their friends.
Dalton estimated it would not be until the end of next week, after victory parades in Auckland today and Wellington on Tuesday next week, that they would be back to work.
Dalton did acknowledge there had been talk in the eight days since their triumph around what shape the next regatta will take.
It appears likely the 36th America’s Cup will be held in Auckland in 2021.