Editorial: Pull the plug on Cup bid

Is it any wonder the public are reluctant to cheer for another bid at the Cup? Photo / APN

There's an interesting line between what is a feel-good, grass-root sport, for everyday people who want to excel and what is a sport for freaks.

I am talking about the America's Cup.

At first glance, what could be more Kiwi than sailing? I would bet a lot of us have handled a boat under sail at some point in our lives, even if it's just an Optimist dinghy.

When we started getting involved in the America's Cup, it was expensive, but it was still traditional. They were on boats we could recognise as boats - safe, single-hulled sloops.

New Zealand has endured the exhausting and frustrating - albeit exhilarating - freakshow that was the America's Cup in San Francisco last year, using boats with sails bigger than domestic aircraft and financed by people with more money than God.

Things were happening so fast, and there was so much excitement, that we barely had time to ask: sorry, this costs how much?

I get the sense the competition has toned a bit in a technical sense, it is encouraging to see more challengers lining up. It doesn't seem to be quite so out of reach.

But is it any wonder the public are reluctant to cheer for another bid at the Cup?

It's not just the money. The concept of losing eight races in a row absolutely, completely sucked. You don't get to do that and stay on the public's good side.

For me, futuristic technological advances are a great thing to spend money on. It just doesn't have to be on bloody boats.

Andrew Bonallack is editor of the Wairarapa Times Age.