Team New Zealand rejected a $99 million bid from the Government and Auckland Council to host the next America’s Cup, meaning the event went abroad to Barcelona.
Sir Ian Taylor is a Dunedin-based leading businessman and entrepreneur and the founder and managing director of Animation Research, renowned for its work revolutionising the way people watch sport.
OPINION
At times it is refreshing to get away from New Zealand to take a look at howour little country at the bottom of the world is being perceived on a global stage.
That stage, for the next two weeks, is here in Barcelona where New Zealand has literally taken ownership of the waterfront of this iconic European city, home to the Sagrada Familia and, alongside London, Paris and Rome, one of the most visited cities in the world.
When he first made the decision to bring the Cup to Barcelona, Grant Dalton came under attack from many sectors of the New Zealand public. The recurring argument was that the Government had paid for Team New Zealand’s success and now they were bailing on the country, for the money.
What most critics overlooked, or simply chose to ignore, was the fact that when Team New Zealand won the Cup in Bermuda, they did so after the Government had withdrawn its promised funding because the defenders at the time, Oracle Team Racing, had pulled out of their agreement to stage some of the Challengers Series in Auckland, prior to the main event in Bermuda.
On the verge of having to close down the team because they had no funding, Dalton took to the air, scouring the world for the vital sponsorship and financial support he needed to keep New Zealand’s Bermuda challenge alive.
That he succeeded in pulling off that herculean task is now history – as is the fact that, against all the odds, Emirates Team New Zealand won the Cup in Bermuda and brought it home to defend in Auckland. Without his single-mindedness, and support from long-time backers Sir Stephen Tindall and Matteo de Nora, the event in Auckland would never have happened.
Nor would this event in Barcelona, showcasing the technical innovation and culture that is Aotearoa New Zealand.
Both were on full display as the Ngāti Whātua waka, Te Kawau, led Taihoro, the foiling monohull, out to do battle with Ineos Britannia on the waters of the Mediterranean Sea.
As I witnessed this amazing event on the opening day, I could not help but look back at the debate raging in New Zealand over the role of Te Tiriti and te reo. Whilst David Seymour, with no sense of irony at all, claimed that race relations were now the worst they had ever been in New Zealand, here in Barcelona the power of our two cultures, working in harmony, was on full display to the world.
And that showcase was funded entirely by Dalton and his team. They paid to ship the waka to Barcelona. They flew the crew, their support team and the kapa haka group that entertains the crowds at the Cup village every race day to Barcelona.
Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei's new waka taua leads Team New Zealand's yacht to the start line in Barcelona.
And that is only one part of the incredible contribution Dalton has made to New Zealand, and New Zealand’s role in the America’s Cup.
In the 20 years Dalton has headed Team New Zealand, every boat has sailed under a Māori name. The only team ever to consistently acknowledge the indigenous people of their land in this 173-year-old event.
Then there is the technical innovation that has reached its pinnacle here at the 37th America’s Cup.
Foiling monohulls that reach speeds in excess of 55 knots – over 100km/h.
When Dalton first proposed this revolutionary idea, there were many who told him it would never work.
He did it anyway.
When he came up with the idea for a hydrogen-powered foiling chase boat, he was told it couldn’t be done in the timeframe. He did it anyway.
We have also witnessed in Barcelona another Dalton initiative – the advent of both the Youth America’s Cup and the Women’s America’s Cup regattas. Both are major additions to the world of sailing and the skills on display have been eye-opening. Unlike the big boats, these crews are truly national teams, and the skill and enthusiasm at which they have taken up the challenge of these high-speed racing machines suggest this is another Dalton initiative that will be around for some time.
So, here we are in Barcelona.
Grant Dalton in Barcelona. Photo / Louis Vuitton
Emirates Team New Zealand v Ineos Britannia. The press galleries are overflowing. Film crews from around the world have arrived. Social media is abuzz with podcasts examining every aspect of this – the dream final.
The race for the Auld Mug between New Zealand and Great Britain.
As I watched the waka Te Kawau lead Taihoro out to do battle on the opening day, I was reminded again of the Māori whakatauki – “the footsteps laid down by our ancestors create the paving stones upon which we stand today”.
The first-ever race for the Auld Mug was held off the shores of Great Britain just 11 years after The Treaty of Waitangi was signed. The treaty between New Zealand and Great Britain, ruled at the time by Queen Victoria.
I am certain that when Queen Victoria asked the question “And who may I ask is second?” after she had watched the sloop America win the first race for the Auld Mug around the Isle of Wight, she could never have imagined that 183 years later, that tiny colony of New Zealand would be taking on the might of Great Britian for the oldest sports trophy in the world.
The famous answer she received of course was: “Your Majesty – there is no second.”
Having spent 20 years alongside Dalton and his quest for the Cup, win or lose, he will never be second.
