Emirates Team New Zealand inspects the team’s America’s Cup boat after it was damaged when a crane failed while moving it from the water to its cradle after the opening day of racing on Thursday Aug. 29, 2024 in Barcelona, Spain. Credit: AP/Joseph Wilson
“New Zealand is rugby, cricket, America’s Cup. … So, are we forgiven for taking it away? I think there’s probably a slightly deeper understanding now,” Dalton said. “But there’ll always be haters. And yes, I think the answer is (that) to close the loop we have to win.”
If it seems like hubris for Dalton to be thinking so far ahead, he has good reason since the America’s Cup favors the defending champion like few other competitions in sports. In this truly winner-take-all event, the victor gets to pick the venue and set the rules for the following cup, and it gets a guaranteed spot in the finals where it will take on the sole rival that gets through the grueling knockout phases.
Dalton has no problem in pointing out which rivals he thinks have the best chance of reaching the final, where they will face his team’s Taihoro.
He predicts that it will come down to Italy’s Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli, which lost 7-3 to the Kiwis in 2021, or NYYC American Magic, the only team to beat New Zealand in last week’s preliminary regatta. That means that INEOS Britannia, the Swiss Alinghi Red Bull Racing, and France’s Orient Express Racing Team are outside rivals, according to Dalton.
The final best-of-13 series between New Zealand and the best of the rest will start in October.
Dalton, 67, is synonymous with the America’s Cup, having rebounded from a historically painful loss to triumph twice.
He took charge of the team in 2003 after New Zealand lost the America’s Cup. Ten years later it was back in the finals, only to suffer a historic 9-8 loss after having led 8-1 to Oracle Team USA. But Dalton kept his team on course and got revenge over Oracle in 2017 in Bermuda. His New Zealand then successfully defended the cup in 2021 back home.
The Pacific island nation is now going for cup No. 5 overall and third on the trot.
The New York Yacht Club, back this year represented by American Magic, successfully defended the cup 24 times after the schooner America beat the British in the inaugural race around the Isle of Wight back in 1851. But even during that great 132-year-run, the NYYC was never represented by the same boat syndicate more than twice in a row.
What would it mean to him and Team New Zealand to become the first outfit to win it three consecutive times?
“Everything,” Dalton said. “No single team that’s been together has won it three times in a row. And if we were lucky enough to achieve that, it’s a feat that hasn’t happened ever. So it will mean everything for us.”
Source link : http://www.bing.com/news/apiclick.aspx?ref=FexRss&aid=&tid=66d59f77dadc4f79ad4adb24fa155f75&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.newsday.com%2Fsports%2Famericas-cup-grant-dalton-new-zealand-sailing-r63262&c=347333799901718532&mkt=en-us
Author :
Publish date : 2024-09-01 23:41:00
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.
