TeamNZ fail by a whisker, Olympic sailors top dogs
Doubters became believers overnight once the opening day of the America’s Cup final was held in San Francisco.
Team New Zealand’s early dominance of holders Oracle ensured yachting’s greatest spectacle finally lived up to its hype and turned even the most hardened sceptics into couch potatoes as the action became compelling viewing.
The prolonged Louis Vuitton Cup had done nothing to alter the perception that this was a rich man’s game gone seriously wrong as just Team New Zealand, Italian syndicate Prada and a woefully under-prepared Swedish outfit Artemis Racing contested an elimination series that frequently featured one-boat races.
Team New Zealand’s dominance here was inevitable. Not even some questionable tinkering with the rules as a result of the training death of Artemis’ Andrew ‘‘Bart’’ Simpson could stop the Kiwi procession to the big event.
But still there were those who didn’t believe these high-tech catamarans would be suitable for matchracing.
Once the gun sounded for the opening race of ‘‘The Match’’ that all changed. Team New Zealand and Oracle were ultra-competitive, providing thrilling racing that featured regular lead changes.
And when the Kiwis jumped out to 6-1 and then had match point at 8-1, it seemed the Auld Mug was returning to New Zealand shores.
But Oracle, with all the millions of Larry Ellison, the best brain in the game in Sir Russell Coutts and the never-say-die attitude of skipper Jimmy Spithill, had other ideas.
They sacked local tactician John Kostecki replacing him with Briton Sir Ben Ainslie, the Olympics’ most decorated sailor, and slowly but surely they ate into the Kiwis’ lead.
The Americans tinkered with their boat, kept practising the crew work, including imitating some Kiwi tactics, and all the time they ate into the New Zealand confidence.
Luck was cruel to Dean Barker’s crew – they were leading two races that were called off because of high winds, and had another called off on match point when they had an unassailable lead but ran over the time limit in light winds. And all the time the Americans got better as each day brought new twists to the story, including the Kiwis surviving a near-capsize.
Team New Zealand didn’t help themselves with some sloppy efforts in the middle of the series, and by the time they regained their composure, it was too late. Spithill’s mob were two quick, finding a foiling formula to simply blast past a helpless Barker.
Depending on how you viewed it, either Oracle completed the greatest comeback in Cup history, and perhaps sport, or Team New Zealand choked.
A combination of both is probably the kindest answer for the Kiwis who suffered the cruellest fate, yet retained the admiration of a sporting nation who had been transfixed by the neverending final. But clearly the event had been transformed, with the giant catamarans being able to race close enough to shore to bring a whole new spectator element to the live action, while some New Zealand-led technology meant TV viewers felt they were almost part of the crew, and certainly better able to understand the complexities of sailing.
While there was no joy for the ageing afterguard of New Zealand’s America’s Cup crew, the next generation were navigating a bright future for the sport.
Peter Burling and Blair Tuke were the stars of the curtainraiser in San Francisco, as they led a New Zealand team to Youth America’s Cup glory, with Will Tiller’s rival crew providing a Kiwi quinella. Burling and Tuke then jumped back on to their 470 and claimed the world title, backing up their Olympics silver medal to confirm they are the new generation.
Alex Maloney and Molly Meech won the women’s 49er FX world title, which bodes well for their Rio Olympics campaign.
And their 470 women counterparts, Jo Aleh and Polly Powrie, gold medallists in London, also won the world title to go with their European crown.
Burling and Tuke were justifiably named New Zealand sailors of the year, while Aleh and Powrie were honoured by the international sailing body as the world’s best female sailors.