Team NZ boss stays loyal to the end

By TERRY MADDAFORD

Team New Zealand syndicate head Tom Schnackenberg has no regrets about the often-maligned "Loyal" campaign which tried to rally New Zealand behind the America's Cup defence.

"Not for one moment," Schnackenberg said at yesterday's post-cup press conference.

"Once upon a time we had the red socks. Out of respect to Sir Peter Blake, we decided not to use them this time.

"Dave Dobbyn allowed us to use his song Loyal for our advertising campaign, for which we were very grateful."

Asked whether the days of the old-style support from a family of sponsors - as Team New Zealand and Team Dennis Conner had gone with - were over, Schnackenberg said he did not think losing the cup had spelled the end of such support.

He did not believe the only way Team New Zealand could mount another campaign would be with an underwriter.

"Our campaign worked just fine," said Schnackenberg.

"The loyalty of our family of five sponsors has been fantastic.

"Our results had nothing to do with our sponsors ... They were to do with us."

Schnackenberg paid tribute to Russell Coutts and Brad Butterworth, saying: "As a professional sportsman I have enormous respect for what they have done.

"We worked hard to put together the best campaign we could, but we have been soundly beaten."

Schnackenberg said all his syndicate members agreed Team NZ had been a fantastic team.

"I'm sure we can build a formidable team for the next America's Cup."

His words earned a round of enthusiastic applause, led by Russell Coutts.

Team New Zealand skipper Dean Barker, asked whether he had liked his boat, replied: "We were very pleased with our boat.

"In the end, the only way to find your strengths and weaknesses is to sail in the America's Cup.

"The better team did win, but we believe we have a strong base for moving forward."

Earlier Barker - of whom Coutts had said, "I recognised Dean's qualities five or six years ago," - said: "To me I did not feel we made any mistakes. We put together a fairly young team. The odds were stacked against us this time given the depth of the challengers.

"All credit to Alinghi. They have set a new level for others to achieve."

Coutts said Alinghi team member and fellow former Team New Zealand sailor Murray Jones had very early on said to him "if Team New Zealand manage to defend the cup it will be unbelievable".

"I'm fully aware of the hard job they had in defending the America's Cup," said Coutts.

"It has been a great series. I'm proud of what we achieved in bringing 15 different nationalities together.

"In November 2000, no one would have expected Alinghi to win.

"As events moved on, we got a group together to win.

"I'll definitely be with Alinghi next time. Having the cup here was fantastic. The challenge now is for Alinghi to do as well."

Butterworth will be by his side.

Asked whether he would continue to sail with Coutts, Butterworth said: "That's up to (fellow afterguard member) Jochen Schuemann. He has been telling me what to do for the past two years.

"I'll be with them wherever they go."


nzherald.co.nz/americascup

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