KEY POINTS:
Whatever the outcome of this America's Cup, when we look at where Team New Zealand are now compared to where they were in 2003 we should be proud.
For me, from a country of four million, being here in the middle of Europe, where we don't count, I find the awareness of New Zealand in this game in Spain has been phenomenal. These guys have done a huge job on and off the water. They are seen as tough, hard working and non-complicated and I think they are seen as pretty damn honest.
They are seen as trying their hardest and that is all you can ask. We didn't talk like that in 2003.
If they have lost, Team New Zealand will come away feeling gutted. You go into this game expecting to win.
But they won't have gone down with a whimper - they'll have gone down scrapping and fighting and you have to respect them for that.
We have seen some great leadership from Grant Dalton. We have seen Dean Barker, a broken man in 2003 and how he has grown. The guy now is for sure one of the best America's Cup helmsmen there is.
The boats Team New Zealand developed are good solid boats. There were no hulas (hull appendages), no design-driven wacko ideas. NZL84 and NZL92 are good, solid all-round boats.
It would absolutely be criminal if Team New Zealand do not continue - not only from a sporting contest and sailing team perspective but as a team that represents New Zealand.
The amount of good from them - the television miles, the written media miles, the image they have projected of New Zealand - is priceless.
Sky Television out of Britain is screening the regatta live and I know it has gone from not rating so well to rating extremely well. It has exceeded expectations.
As a sporting organisation I can only admire Team New Zealand. They are classy but not flashy and not like some of the tradeshows we see around here with Alinghi and Oracle.
But Alinghi, like them or dislike them, are a class act.
The way their afterguard put it together yesterday was magical. They deserved to win.
Peter Lester is a former America's Cup sailor.
