Team New Zealand won the 36th America’s Cup on Wednesday, retaining the legendary Silver Ewer with a decisive seventh victory over Italian challenge Luna Rossa in Auckland.
Martin Couturié with AFP
Mission accomplished but not without trembling. And far from the 7-0 announced by some New Zealanders … Originally led 3-2, Emirates Team New Zealand has chained five successes in a row since Saturday to finally win 7-3 and offer New Zealand a fourth coronation in the oldest sports competition in the world (1851). “It’s completely unreal, it’s a huge satisfaction for the team,” said New Zealand helmsman Peter Burling just after the victory.
The New Zealanders had hoped to kill the match on Tuesday, but a shift in the direction of the wind prompted organizers to postpone the 10th round for a day. And on Wednesday, Luna Rossa never seemed able to threaten New Zealand supremacy, with Team New Zealand finally crossing the finish line 46 seconds ahead.
The New Zealand Prime Minister was obviously quick to congratulate her compatriots who thus sign a fourth triumph on the prestigious event, after the victories of 1995, 2000 and 2017. “Team New Zealand makes us once again so proud by doing America’s Cup New Zealand’s Cup, ”Jacinda Ardern said in a statement, rekindling the nation’s patriotism around sailing, the other national sport alongside rugby.
Logically favorites in their den, the New Zealanders will have finally scared themselves even if they avoided the humiliating comeback of the Cup organized in San Francisco in 2013 where they had led 8-1 before collapsing and being beaten 9-8 by the Americans. No miracle this time for James Spithill, the Australian coxswain of the American challenge at the time and the Italian challenger this year. But Luna Rossa, who had eliminated the US and English challenges in the Prada Cup tasked with selecting Team New Zealand’s challenger, held on to her place in the Cup, leading 3-2, before living on Monday a nightmare day that opened the door to a fourth triumph of the All Blacks of the waves. “Of course we will have to go have a beer with the Kiwis to pay tribute to them,” said Spithill, a handsome player, after the defeat.
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At the time of the first assessment, this 36th edition will have finally shown two contrasting faces with the first regattas marked by the success of the boat having crossed the starting line in the lead. But at the halfway point, the change of course was complete with splendid and uncertain clashes on the water, reversals of situation, as during this surely key regatta which saw the Italians lead by 4 minutes and finally lose by 4 minutes … After the last Cup won in Bermuda on small multihulls, the Kiwis had decided to launch on the water revolutionary monohulls without keel to slow them down but with foils to get them out of the water and keep them in the water. ‘balance. The bet succeeded because these boats transformed into fighter planes amazed the whole planet with impressive speeds (up to 50 knots) and a mad mouth. If some, like Loïck Peyron did not join after the first regattas, believing that the speed had killed the magic of the Cup, because at the same time eliminating all suspense and all close melee, in the end this 36th edition will be remembered by its innovation, the aesthetics of the boats and an exciting end to the competition.
It remains to be seen what will be the future of this America’s Cup, the next edition of which is expected in 2024. The New Zealand Prime Minister has already announced that her government would release five million New Zealand dollars (three million euros) to allow Team New Zealand to defend its Cup. In New Zealand? One can imagine it but the Kiwis, even before the victory, had indicated that they would study applications from foreign cities. Info or intox ? The future will tell, knowing that as title holders, the New Zealanders have full latitude to choose the location but also the format of the boats and regattas. And there is little doubt that they will not throw away their revolutionary monohulls and their experience (not to say advance) in the matter. From there to what they agree to race elsewhere than at home. And from there to what sailors manage to set up a French challenge to sail to the other side of the planet …
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