By Martin Tasker in Bermuda
Three words was all it took. Shortly after the America's Cup had been presented to its new owners on the dockside, with all due razzamatazz, everyone at Emirates Team New Zealand was called into the lunchroom for a meeting.
Over in the hospitality area the
VIPS and guests were beginning to ramp up the celebrations. Fans and the media were lining the barriers outside the base waiting for the newly crowned victors to emerge.
Inside the lunchroom the team's chief operations officer Kevin Shoebridge was giving a rundown on how the evening was going to play out, before giving the floor to Grant Dalton, the CEO and his long time mate.
Dalts paused, looked around the room, looked almost lost for words. He let loose a profanity, paused, looked again at this extraordinary bunch of people and then, shaking his head, said simply: "This is huge." And laughed.
That lit the blue touch paper and the room exploded with a huge cheering roar which burst into sustained applause. It was a massive venting of so many raw emotions including - in no particular order- sheer joy, massive relief and huge satisfaction,
Outside, jaws dropped at the volume and intensity of the spontaneous celebration. Inside, eyes welled and throats constricted as the enormity of what had been achieved and the events that were about to unfold took hold.
Then it was party time. The revellers spilled out from the hospitality area in the wing shed onto the dock. On a stunning Bermuda evening kids - of all ages - kicked a rugby ball around while others dived off the dock into the warm clear water. The music ramped up.
Then a big RIB eased up to the floating pontoon and the Oracle Team USA sailors, led by Jimmy "The Pitbull" Spithill, walked up the ramp into the "enemy" base to salute the victors. It is a tradition in sport but it is still the most sporting of gestures and a simple handshake and acknowledgement puts so much rancour to rest.
The revellers partied long and hard but in the morning when the heads cleared and the fog lifted there was this wonderful realisation that it hadn't been a dream.
And so to the next team meeting which really ended up primarily being a photocall for everyone in the team to be pictured holding the America's Cup.
