NZ Herald editorial: Team NZ proves what can be done from this country

Editorial

How good was that. Emirates Team New Zealand became a legend yesterday, a sporting success story that will never be forgotten in this country. It was not just that they won the America's Cup but that they did it their own way, against all the odds. They did not go to Bermuda as early as the defender and the other challengers. The team stayed in Auckland, training, trialling and protecting their design secrets until it was too late for the others to match them.

They were brave. When they appeared on the Waitemata with cyclists in place of grinders they were going way out on a limb. How ludicrous that would have looked if it had not worked. Their foils were angled quite differently to others' and their sail trimmer used a Playstation device. Those were only their obvious innovations. Doubtless there were others.

The thrilling thing is, they did this from New Zealand. Without the big budget of the defender and others, they could stay at home, minimising their costs, because they could draw on the design and technological expertise they knew was here. Their success is a glowing testament to the expertise available here, which can take on the world and win.

Team New Zealand is not alone in that regard; Lorde is winning world musical acclaim for a second album, and the All Blacks, of course. It is one thing to scale the global heights of achievement once, as Team New Zealand did with its first America's Cup tenure, to repeat the feat declares the first was not just a flash in the pan. Not that it needed another victory to confirm the first was no fluke. Team NZ has been a finalist for the America's Cup more often than any other syndicate since the Cup was lifted from the clutches of the New York Yacht Club after 133 years.

The youth of the crew this time belied that fact that Team NZ has been in this event longer than any other team competing at Bermuda. Helmsman Peter Burling was just 4 years of age when Sir Peter Blake and Sir Russell Coutts brought the Cup to New Zealand, and aged 12 when Coutts took it away from us. He and Blair Tuke grew up with the America's Cup saga and yet that history did not appear to weigh on their minds at Bermuda.

The same can not be said for Grant Dalton. He set out to recover the Cup and has had to settle for second behind Coutts' operation every time. Yesterday would have been deservedly sweet for Dalton. It ought to be all the sweeter that he has triumphed this time without public money. The Government provided no more than $5 million to keep the team together after the disappointment at San Francisco four years ago. When it came to funding another challenge the Government did not think Bermuda provided the same value for New Zealand.

Ventures such as the America's Cup do not have a strong case for taxpayers' support. Corporate sponsorship is seldom easy to obtain but the need to do is a good test of the event's ability to attract and hold an international audience. Dalton has managed to raise the money, organise another fine team and hold up the trophy that eluded him so often. Congratulations to him, well done to them all.