An America's Cup master and commander for the far side of the world

By JULIE MIDDLETON

Hats off to Grunt Dalton. Because that's what the managing director of Team New Zealand - sorry, that's now officially Emirates Team New Zealand - has needed to pull off sponsorship deals that will see the country represented at the 2007 America's Cup in Spain.

Grant Dalton's mentor, Team New Zealand director and business leader, 88-year-old Sir Tom Clark has been close to the action in the past few months and says it's Dalton's sheer "grunt" that has tied the right strings together in time.

He "faced an impossible task every day. I'd say a year ago when we first started looking at it, the chances [of enough money coming in to fund a challenge] were 90 per cent against".

The jovial and plain-speaking Sir Tom was among the crowd at yesterday's $100-a-head launch lunch at the team's Viaduct Basin home.

Even though he walked as a Team NZ director when Russell Coutts and Brad Butterworth defected to Alinghi he is still informally in the fray because he believes in Dalton "absolutely".

Dalton is "a wonderful guy. What I admire about him is he has balls with a capital B. Grunt, grunt," he adds, baring his teeth, "rrrrr!"

So does he know how much the deal is worth?

"I do, but I wouldn't tell you."

Would it be more than the $30 million that has been bandied about? "I'm not going to say," Sir Tom says, jovially. "You're pushing shit uphill, I must say."

What is clear is that the Government's lifeline of $33.75 million depended on Team NZ's securing outside help of double that. Toyota New Zealand chairman Bob Field admitted that Emirates Airline's money clinched its continued involvement.

Dalton said he had wondered if this day would come. "If we had not made it today, it would have been a very big train wreck".

But the scrabble for cash isn't over. Dalton said the team had 85 per cent of the money required - the budget is believed to be $150 million.

Emirates' white-on-red logo was splashed over NZL82 and her sails six times when she showed off her new paint job on a sparkling Waitemata Harbour yesterday.

But you wonder how the public will feel about overseas money fuelling "our" team. Dalton is quick to say that "overseas money is not running it, because the New Zealand Government is a major shareholder and so is Toyota".

"Emirates Team New Zealand still has the same heart. The livery ... is still very much Kiwi."

It looks very much like Alinghi's - grey, black and red.

"Yeah, but you haven't seen the new colour scheme of Alinghi," says Dalton (not that there is any evidence of that on Alinghi's website).

"I think the public want to win.

"They do care how - the right way - but I think there is realisation that the colossal budgets necessary to mount a competitive challenge indicted that we had to look offshore for money."

So did Emirates give you more than $30 million?

"I'm not prepared to say." What he is prepared to say is that the public needs to forget last year's debacle. "From the disaster of last year, a phoenix can rise."

Who's backing Team New Zealand challenge

Team New Zealand held the America's Cup from 1995 to 2003, when they lost 5-0 to the Swiss challenger, Alinghi.

Dubai-based Emirates Airline, which has stepped up its activities in New Zealand lately, has been named the lead sponsor of Team New Zealand for their 2007 America's Cup challenge in Valencia, Spain.

Toyota New Zealand, which has had a 15-year relationship with Team New Zealand, has returned as one of two second-tier "elite" sponsors. A second is yet to be found.

Further reading: nzherald.co.nz/americascup