Team New Zealand Grant Dalton and skipper Dean Barker are greeted by thousands of fans at Shed 10 on Queens Wharf on Friday after returning unsuccessfully from the America's Cup in San Francisco.
Team New Zealand Grant Dalton and skipper Dean Barker are greeted by thousands of fans at Shed 10 on Queens Wharf on Friday after returning unsuccessfully from the America's Cup in San Francisco.
Emirates Team New Zealand skipper Dean Barker says perceptions that millions of dollars of Government money spent on the 2017 America's Cup campaign is a poor investment is "completely wrong".
Barker made the comments on Campbell Live tonight, defending where the $5 million the team received in Government funding lastOctober has been spent.
He disputed media and public sentiments regarding the return on investment and the utilisation of Government funds.
"A big chunk of it is the designers and that is the back bone of the team, we need to be able to go and win in 2017 and those guys are working full time -- even though they are on a retainer. The belief that they are sitting there doing nothing is completely wrong.
"We have recruited or retained people from outside the team to bring in experience from Oracle and other teams. And we are in a much, much stronger position than we have ever been before to launch into the next campaign."
The 2013 America's Cup, held in San Francisco, resulted in Oracle Team USA defending the America's Cup by a score of 9 to 8 against Emirates Team New Zealand.
