Kiwis crush US to recapture America’s Cup
NEW Zealand lifted the America’s Cup on Monday, almost white-washing the US holder with a revolutionary boat and a new superstar sailor avenging a humbling defeat four years ago.
Emirates Team New Zealand claimed international sport’s oldest trophy with a stunning 7-1 victory in Bermuda’s Great Sound, with 26-year-old Peter Burling becoming the youngest helmsman to secure sailing’s biggest prize.
In doing so, Burling usurped New Zealand’s nemesis, Oracle Team USA skipper Jimmy Spithill, who won the cup in 2010 aged 30 and was hoping for a third successive victory.
Larry Ellison, the billionaire Oracle founder, dressed in Oracle Team USA kit, came ashore from his boat to greet both teams after a fascinating battle of wills and technology.
But the focus was on Olympic champion Burling, who showered his jubilant teammates and support crew with champagne after their sleek black, red and white catamaran crossed the line.
“We’re all ecstatic about what we have managed to achieve and we are on top of the world, it’s going to be a good night,” Burling said after coolly steering his space-age 15-meter foiling catamaran to yet another win over Spithill.
“They really were a class above in this America’s Cup... They outsailed us and had a better boat... really well done,” Spithill said, later adding that there were many things his team would have done differently.
The America’s Cup, named after the schooner “America” which won it off the south coast of England in 1851, has only been held by teams from the US, Australia, New Zealand and Switzerland.
The Kiwis will now decide where, when and in what type of boat the next America’s Cup will be held. CEO Grant Dalton did not detail his plans, but said they would “play out in the next couple of weeks”. One certainty for the other teams thinking of the next campaign is that Italy’s Luna Rossa, which is backed by the Italian luxury goods group Prada, has been chosen as the Challenger of Record for the 36th America’s Cup.
The Kiwi crew had been on a mission to wipe out the hurt inflicted when an 8-1 lead was overhauled by the US team.
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