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 on Wednesday.
The chuffed 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 over-riding feeling 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.
‘‘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 on Thursday and Wellington on Tuesday next week, they would be back to work.
But he 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 and although there had been much speculation in New Zealand about where in Auckland the teams would be based, Dalton said he had not discussed that with anyone in an official capacity.
He also said there had been no decision on whether they would return to monohulls or stick with foiling catamarans.
However, Dalton did confirm there had been discussions with a number of other syndicates, all eager to hear which direction the Kiwi team was heading.
‘‘[The potential challengers] know there is a new defender and a new sheriff in town and want to know what it is going to be.
‘‘A lot of those things have been discussed and put down. Things like nationality are important to us, as well as cost and stability of rules people can rely on. Participation will come as a result of those things, when people feel they’ve got a fair competition.
‘‘It took us 12 months to hear anything from Oracle last time to be fair, but anybody that has contacted us, and there have been some pretty significant ones, we [have spoken to them].’’
How long it takes for the picture to become clearer remains to be seen.
Dalton said they would ‘‘start putting dates out that give timelines’’ within around a week but reiterated they wanted to ensure, first and foremost, they properly took in and celebrated what bringing the Cup back meant to the country.
For the beaming team boss, the true realisation of what they had achieved might even take a bit longer.
After a 14-year wait to lift the Auld Mug and an extremely testing four years since the devastation of San Francisco in 2013, Dalton said, when it came, he looked forward to quietly soaking in that moment.
‘‘It hasn’t really sunk in because been it’s been such a struggle for so long for so many.
‘‘It will only be with the fire going, on the couch, watching some V8 motor racing on a Sunday afternoon in the next few weeks that I’ll actual start to get it I reckon.’’