The outcome of the America’s Cup challenge 2013 in San Francisco is not what New Zealand was expecting or had hoped for. But in the end skipper, Dean Barker, and indeed the whole of Emirates Team New Zealand have upheld the spirit of sailing as a sport and done us proud.
When Peter Blake led Team New Zealand to victory in the 1995 America’s Cup challenge in San Diego he could not have imagined the impact the win would have not only on sailing and boat building but also in changing the face of Auckland’s waterfront. It is not inconceivable that a similar result could take place following this America’s Cup.
As Ian Taylor, from Animation Research, a company which has been providing graphics for the America’s Cup since 1992, said today, “The competition has offered a profile to the marine and technology industries which money can not buy, with New Zealand playing a key role in every campaign.”
It is to be hoped that the current loss will ultimately be turned into a win for the many young people who sat glued to the television watching the massive catamarans fly at impossible speeds down the America’s Cup race course. If they decide to take up the sport of sailing or join the ranks of New Zealand’s talented boat builders and its related high tech industries then Team New Zealand’s efforts will not have been in vain.
