Three burning questions: What now for Team NZ?

Herald yachting writers Dana Johannsen and Paul Lewis answer the burning questions after Oracle successfully defended the America's Cup.

1) What now for Dean Barker and Emirates Team New Zealand?
Paul Lewis: Hard to know but it's difficult, at this early stage, to see the team surviving; Barker is hugely talented and will likely get a gig elsewhere, if he wants it.

Dana Johannsen: After three straight failed campaigns, it is difficult to see Team NZ being able to get the funding together for another campaign. Dean Barker is hugely talented helmsman and will be in demand elsewhere - it's a question of whether he wants to carry on in this heartbreaking game or not.

2) Is there anything more that ETNZ could have done in the last week?
PL: Nope - they'd run out of money and they simply couldn't do whatever it was that OTUSA did to make their boat faster.

DJ: Probably not. Team NZ led the development curve in the new AC72 class the entire way, but Oracle, with their superior money and resources, caught up with them and overtook them in the nick of time.

3) Is it a choke or a brilliant comeback?
PL: There's no such thing as a choke in sailing - there are too many variables, boat speed being the main one, team errors the other. It wasn't errors that cost Team NZ the America's Cup, it was boat speed. The big question is: what did they do to make it so fast after being so far behind?

DJ: You have to say it was an unbelievable comeback from Oracle. At 1-8 down lesser teams would have surrendered right there, but as Jimmy Spithill says "we looked down the barrel and didn't flinch". It is just a shame for every great comeback there has to be a great collapse.