KEY POINTS:
Here is an earlier selection of Your Views:
DjCole (South Auckland)
All good ETNZ! You gave back our mana! Wasn't to be, oh well, Bring it on next time. Dam our boat does look good over there aye!
Romeo Liebig
Yes I certainly do think Team New Zealand should be at the 33rd America's cup, it would be a great shame if they were not there.
Texan (Auckland)
We should absolutely have another challenge. Our boat was fast enough we just made tactical errors and Alinghi pounced on our mistakes. They didn't win the cup We handed it to them!
Jonnie
The best sailors won the cup. Most of them New Zealanders.
San Diego
Watching "sailtrack" on TV it didn't look to me as if Alinghi held her course. Angles are hard to judge, but it looked to me as if the Swiss turned 15-20 degrees toward Team NZ. I'm no racing expert, but is that grounds to protest the on water decision?
Steve
The America's Cup is not sport it is all about rich boys, their passion for sailing and their egos as well as mercenaries plying their trade to the highest bidder. That doesn't mean we shouldn't compete it just means we should treat it as an investment so, if we believe we got value for money, and would get a return from another $30m, then by all means compete again. If we want to win the America's Cup we will also need to be mercenary. I think Grant Dalton is a winner and an inspirational leader and should stay on however the rest of the team, as proud as we are of them, are not up to it. Dalton will need to clean house and put together a team that can win it.
Scott M
New Zealand has been so patriotic around this cup yet arguably it was 5 or 6 New Zealanders that have manifested the Swiss win. If this was Australia's challenge and Australians were on board with the Swiss they wouldn't be allowed back in the country! Either this is a race between countries, if so then so it should be and NZers should be on NZ boats. If it's a race between companies like the F1 then the Government should get out of the way-they have no business sponsoring this private endeavour.
Allan King
Never, in the field of human sporting endeavours, have so few fought to the end with such strength and determination as Emirates Team New Zealand. Although beaten by one second in the final race, they were far better on the day. We the people salute you Team NZ and pray, that a countries gratitude will at least bring some measure of consolation. You may have lost the race, but you did not loose the war. So free yourselves from the burden of defeat, and glory in the fact that your country loves you and will back you to the end so that the spoils will eventually return to these shores.
Boris
Well, if ETNZ could not win when they were so well prepared, how are they going to win the next time. They had a good boat, a solid crew, years of preparation and did very well in the LV cup. What more could you want? And I think the winning margin might have been 2 seconds or at least that's what they showed on TV at 2.30am.
Tim Spooner
Thank goodness this obscene waste of tax-payer money is at an end, so I thought, then I read that Labour is throwing another $10 million at the next (probably doomed) attempt. That will be a comfort to people waiting for operations.
Proud Kiwi (Auckland)
The fact that the boys didn't manage to bring the cup home is minor - yes it would of been great for Aotearoa to host and defend the cup again, but at the end of the day the guys and girls of TNZ have played the game with dignity and true sports(man)ship - we should be proud of them and their achievements and give them a parade they would be proud of when they get back (although Queen Street would be a problem right now!). Personally, I still think Team New Zealand are champions and world class sports men - you guys rock - and there's always next time anyway!
Christopher Miles
Good for Alinghi. Congratulations!
JMF (Three Kings)
What a fantastic cup it has been, thanks to the efforts of ETNZ. Their attitude has been to fight the whole time and so given Alinghi a formidable challenger. Well done boys! You've done yourselves proud, and New Zealand is proud of you.
Richard Wallis
It was great racing but unfortunately our team was outgunned on the day by Alinghi, which was crewed largely by New Zealanders. What could be better evidence of the strength of the sport in this country?
Maree Maree
Well I guess the best team did win but it was made up of Kiwis so hmmmmm should we say that the bunch of kiwis who sailed under the other name won? I think money talks when it comes to equipment, but also that Kiwis are the best sailors in the world. Alinghi should also be proud but it is sad they have no flag to fly no Kiwis getting excited for them. Yes we should have another go, after all this cup race has been the best in a long time.
John (Lisbon)
I don't know if the best team won but, either way, New Zealand can be proud. Your challengers did a great job and, as this is no longer purely a national event, there is no need to ostracise the fine sailors from New Zealand who helped Alinghi to their win. However, the only reason I would not have been rooting for NZ92 is that it would be a huge blow for the future of the Cup if it had to be competed for in New Zealand. Sorry, wonderful country that it is, you are just in the wrong part of the world for hosting a 4 year event which relies on astronomic amounts of commercial sponsorship. Good luck with the next challenge
Mother Goose (North Shore)
Team NZ is the best team by far. That they didn't quite win the cup doesn't matter, they won in so many other respects. Integrity being high on the list. At the end of the day the Swiss didn't win either they have so many New Zealand born sailors that New Zealand was the winner no matter what. That said they aren't Kiwi's anymore so who did win. Team NZ did. The Team proved to the world and to themselves they are the best of the best in all respects.
Picholi (Valencia)
I write from Valencia cause I was born here and I live here I'm very happy that Alinghi won but I need to say this one in a New Zealand newspaper we need you to come to another challenger cause I´ve realised that you are the best team and the best sailors in all over the world and the Cup must to come back to your country someday. Thank you very much for those afternoons in front of the TV. Please come back.
Dave Denison
Tremendous effort! So close that it could have gone either way! We need to make sure that next time it goes New Zealand's way.
Rachel B (Auckland)
I am so proud of Emirates Team New Zealand. They showed the kind of guts and determination that Kiwi's pride themselves on. Unfortunately we had a few unlucky moments, and Alinghi were able to make the most of them, but I still think we were right up there. Money may buy better boats and nicer headquaters but it will never buy class.
Proud Kiwi (Auckland)
I just want to say that no matter what the outcome, Team New Zealand raced an amazing challenge. Yes, mistakes were made and there seriously appears to be a lack of communication and an incompatibility amongst the afterguard. but all that aside, ETNZ have shown that they are a team to be reckoned with and I take my hat off to the boys for the stellar effort they put in. even though its over, the whole country is behind you ETNZ, and I doubt Switzerland is as proud of Alinghi as we are of you. For Brad Butterworth; you may have kept it this time, but next time it's coming home!
Snuggels (Te Atatu, Waitakere City)
Well done Team NZ you didn't win the America's Cup but in my eyes you are winners all the way. You make me proud to be a New Zealander, through all of your racing you have played things straight down the line and showed the World what Good Sport's Men you are. There is no doubt in my mind that had you not had the bad luck to have to complete a penalty you would have won today and given them a run for their money in the next two races. Well done and best wishes for the future.
Kiwibill
The best team was cheated of a well deserved win by low down turncoats. Deliberately gunning down Team NZ when they were in front. What goes round comes round.
Peter Hall
Well, all we have heard from the commentators is defend the right, all ETNZ did was go left. Did we lose it or was it thrown?
Phil (Ohoka)
Well done Team New Zealand, you did yourselves proud and Grant Dalton deserves a knighthood, although I suspect he is the type of guy who would not really want the title. As for National saying what they did about the funding not being guaranteed for the next cup, it was and will be worth every penny. This is one good thing the Labour Party did. Bring it home in 200x.
Macca
There is no doubt the best team won. NZers had been regularly told by Dalton that they had the better team which would see them through. It was teamwork that let them down at pressure times, which ended up being a major cause of them being unable to beat the Swiss. Dean Barker's America's Cup record is not good and possibly a replacement should be looked for if we challenge again. I thought some of the NZ supporters at the finish of the race were a disgrace.
"The Hoff"
Of course they have to go again. It's unfinished and yet they were so close to doing it. 5-2 isn't a true reflection of how close the match was. I'm more than happy for my tax money to be spent in promoting New Zealand through these guys, they are great ambassadors for us. Thanks to Emirates, Toyota and Estrella Damm for the last four years. Grant and Dean and the rest of the team are all champions in my mind!
Craig
Essentially this race was kiwis versus kiwis, Brad Butterworth and the rest are traitors for taking it away from us in the first place when they got it for us themselves. Brad Butterworth is a traitor!
Simon (UK)
You did us proud boys, it just didn't go our way. You have the country behind you, all round the world.
Mic
Well done to Alinghi. I feel a bit empty at the moment but also very proud of Team NZ. It's a bit hard to watch so many kiwi's win the cup which sails under the Swiss flag though. I would like to see in future that all nations have a cap for international sailors on their team, say 5 international sailors per team. The Swiss team should of been flying under the united nations flag not the Swiss flag, or all teams fly under a sponsors name not national flags as these days every team seems to be made up of sailors from many country's. The best team won and I hope we can enter the competition again as NZ are the best sailing nation in the world and we have made the America's Cup what it is today. It has changed a lot and not for the better, it should be about nation vs nation not billionaire vs billionaire. This is why Louis Vuitton is thinking of not sponsoring the cup any more. Well done Team NZ, we are all very proud of you and what you have done for our nation, not a bad result 4 million people vs Europe and billionaires.
Sandles
I thought that the guys put up a huge effort and should be commended for what they have achieved. However, the fact that the Government is giving them $10m of my taxpayers money to try and win the cup back again, is ludicrous. We live in an area where we are desperate for another pool so that our children can learn the life skill of swimming and we cannot even get that because of under-funding. There are other sports out there that require funding just as much. I would rather see that $10 million going towards other facilities for other sports apart from the more traditional ones.
DJSTU
Grant Dalton has to go. He's not people centric and he's destroyed the original Team NZ because he couldn't get on with some of them. His own personal selfish agenda removed the very best talented people who constituted the heart of what Team NZ originally was, and, that we were so proud of. Grant Dalton has cost us dearly and he must go in order to rebuild a fresh Team NZ. And it's quite probable with his removal that some of those great kiwi talents might just be attracted to come back to Team NZ.
Pete (Auckland)
Thank Goodness for that! Alinghi has taken the prize and in doing so the average Aucklander has been saved from another developer-led greed fest at the Harbour. Rather than rubbing their hands in anticipation of extracting dollops of dollars from wealthy New Zealand and overseas investors the City Council and private investors will have to go return to the prospect of business as usual. Nobody has "won" the America's Cup for years. It was a race designed by a rich man for rich men and initially won by rich men. In recent decades it has been largely purchased by the team with the deepest pockets. We are not even close to being in that league and, while it's been fun for some, it's time to get out of the race and reinvest the money and time commitment where it can do more good for more New Zealanders. How many sporting bodies in this country would benefit if the Government's ten million dollars was spread around a little? We've tried - we've done well but the wallet wasn't deep enough. Time to let go and let the big boys throw their cash into the paddling pool. Don't do it again! Don't dream! It's over!
Kiwibolt
I think now its time to bring in Russell Coutts. Dean Barker has had 2 shots at winning the Americas Cup and is 2-10 which is a 20 per cent winning percentage which is not acceptable with his experience. Bring back Russell.
Chris from Zurich, anonymous Alinghi supporter
Leaving unanswered the question whether the best team won the Cup, I feel very proud that Switzerland as a small nation, a traditional place of skiing activities, presents not only a very successful tennis player, but even a sailing team (without having any access to the sea)!
northcote
Definitely Team NZ should hold another challenge. Could I suggest they open a trust account for the support to deposit money to support Team NZ?
Guy
It's a stupid question that so many are asking, "should New Zealand make another attempt to bring back the cup". Should the All Blacks attempt to win the world cup? of course! We are the best in the world, being narrowly beaten by a team made up of some New Zealanders and had it previously taken from us by New Zealanders! Why wouldn't we want to spend such a small percentage of the total cost to attempt to bring it back here, Auckland has not been the same since.
C Reid
I think we should definitely contest the next race and I am particularly proud of the way the team have conducted themselves. I think they showed great sportsmanship and have proven that they are a very serious contender.
Mike (Auckland)
Of course they should mount another challenge, I don't even comprehend the question. Racers race, sailors sail. It's not taxpayer funded so why on earth would anyone suggest they throw in the towel? It's not even our business for that matter. If the All Blacks don't win this year's World Cup, should they stop attending? Good on TNZ, you gave the Swiss a right fright and I look forward to the next challenge. You just add to the pride that is to be kiwi.
Mike (Auckland)
In reply to my own comment I have made already, I just saw that there is tax payer money involved! That doesn't change my view though, I think it's money well spent. All it does is show I am not as knowledgeable as I think I am! I say mount as many challenges as you like, with the hoarding the government is doing we can afford it.
Lynne
I'm so proud, we may not have won but the Team did us proud. Well done! Bring it on in four years - yes let's fund them!
PaulS
We lost.....who cares?
Norman (Auckland)
Absolutely we should contest the next America's Cup. Kiwis are the best sailors in the world, and we need to continue to show the world that. The knock-on effect for our marine industry is huge. Plus it will be very satisfying to wipe the smirk off Bertarelli's face!