Team NZ’s great con job
It remains arguably the biggest con job in New Zealand sporting history and it brought home the mighty America’s Cup. Murray Jones, a key member of the Team New Zealand afterguard that lifted the Auld Mug 25 years ago today, still chuckles about how they pulled the wool over their opponents’ eyes in San Diego in 1995.
Early trials of NZL32, aka Black Magic, were so impressive that Team New Zealand decided to tuck it away for when it mattered most.
They instead sailed on NZL38 through the Louis Vuitton Cup challenger series, amassing a 41-2 record in a boat so good that everyone had virtually forgotten about the supposed ‘‘dog’’ that was left sitting in the syndicate’s shed.
Then when it was time to front Team Dennis Conner in the match for the oldest trophy in sport, out came Black Magic and the blitz was instantly on.
With vastly superior speed the Kiwis completed a 5-0 sweep of ‘‘Mr America’s Cup’’ for a breakthrough win that has kept the Cup near the forefront of New Zealand’s sporting psyche ever since.
‘‘We were aware from day one we had something special and we had a lot of fun with it along the way,’’ Jones told Stuff of the secrecy around their best boat.
‘‘It gave us tremendous confidence, the fact that we knew we had some dry powder left . . . another step up . . . and that our opposition didn’t know that.
‘‘We did a great job early on. We didn’t want to advertise that because other teams were still designing and building boats. We put it out there that the boat was a dog and that we were going to have a bit of trouble. That rumour flew like wildfire which was awesome.
‘‘Everyone assumed that NZL38 that came out much later was much improved. They just assumed that was our boat, that was THE boat.’’
Still, the syndicate headed by Peter Blake and fronting New Zealand’s fourth challenge, wanted more assurances for the biggest match of all and sought to keep their development going in other areas of gear for Black Magic.
That was difficult with the campaign already significantly over budget and Connor having the luxury of picking up the Young America boat from the defender trials, handing over a cool US$1m to get what he supposed was a superior craft.
‘‘The budget constraints were very real,’’ Jones remembers. ‘‘Towards the end we desperately wanted some more money to buy some more sails and a couple of bits of equipment and we just didn’t have it. We knew what we wanted and we wanted to continue to improve the boat.
‘‘Fortunately we did manage to raise some extra dollars. Some of it came through the red socks campaign which was a pretty cool thing because it involved the country. That was a nice way that people could contribute to the win in the end because it did make a difference with our continued development.’’
Without the benefit of current communications technology, the team had buried itself into its task in San Diego, largely unaware of the building fever at home.
But New Zealand’s support was rammed home when the team returned with the large, ornate cup.
‘‘We touched down and were put into buses at Auckland airport to go to the downtown parade. I remember driving through the streets and crowds of people were in their red socks and waving and you’re thinking, ‘wow, this is pretty cool’. Then when we got into Queen Street it was just chaos. It was jam-packed, it just blew all of us away.’’
Team New Zealand has become a national identity, though then they were just a bunch of sailors looking to excel in their sport’s toughest environment.
‘‘It was a very special team and excellence is the right word. We strove for excellence. We weren’t striving for recognition form the country or anyone else, we were just trying to do the very, very best we could do for our team. It was a very tight team.’’
Jones went on to defend the Cup in 2000, shifted to Swiss outfit Alinghi and won it again in 2003 and 2007. He helped Oracle Team USA with their 2013 success in San Francisco before rejoining Emirates Team New Zealand as the performance coach for the Bermuda 2017 success, mentoring the likes of Peter Burling.
The America’s Cup hall of famer still cherishes that 1995 moment.
‘‘It was a pretty special occasion and win for everyone involved. All the cups I’ve done have been different and I had different experiences with each one but that was particularly special because it was the first time New Zealand had won and it was the first time I’d done the America’s Cup. It was just an incredible experience,’’ he said.
Much of talent from that team remains active in professional sailing teams around the globe today. Jones sails with fellow 1995 winners Tony Rae and Robbie Naismith on American boat Sled in the prestigious TP52 series.
There are no formal reunions but Jones says with so many of them still sailing there are usually a few of them gathered at various regattas to raise a glass in memory of their sensational San Diego deeds from that May 13.
The coronavirus pandemic means that won’t be so for today’s 25th anniversary but once New Zealand gets released to Level 2, Jones anticipates a quiet celebration somewhere in Auckland on Friday to relive a victory that remains one of the country’s most significant sporting moments.