Team New Zealand

Team New Zealand
Yachting Team New Zealand
Yacht Club:	Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron
Established:	1993
Nation:	New Zealand
Team Principal:	Grant Dalton
Skipper:	Dean Barker
Notable Sailors:	Rob Waddell Adam Beashel
Notable Victories:	Americas Cup; 1995 & 2000 Louis Vuitton Cup; 1995 & 2007 Louis Vuitton Pacific; 2009 Louis Vuitton Trophy; 2010
Sail Numbers:	NZL-84, NZL-92

Team New Zealand (TNZ) is a sailing team based in Auckland, New Zealand representing the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron.

Team New Zealand has become a household name in their home country following their consecutive wins in the America's Cup in 1995 and 2000. In doing this, they became the first team from a country outside the United States to successfully win and then defend the America's Cup. Their success in America's Cup competitions have contributed to New Zealand's reputation for producing world-class sailors and boat designers.^{[citation needed]} Emirates Team New Zealand is currently competing in the World Match Racing Tour. Led by their skipper Adam Minoprio, they are widely expected to be the basis for a future America's Cup campaign for New Zealand.

History

Three challenges were launched before the founding of Team New Zealand, all of these backed by Michael Fay.^[1]

1987: KZ 7 "Kiwi Magic"

New Zealand entered the America's Cup competition in 1984, when Marcel Fachler, a Belgian then living in Sydney, entered as a challenger following Australia II's victory. Later the campaign's director, former government minister Anthony "Aussie" Malcolm, brought in Michael Fay to help organize and finance the challenge.

In 1986 off Fremantle, Australia KZ 7 was the most dominant boat in the rounds robin competition, winning 33 of 34 starts. In the Semi's she swept French Kiss 4 races to nil, and reached the Louis Vuitton Cup Finals, where she lost to Dennis Conner and Stars & Stripes 87.

Despite failing to reach the America's Cup as the challenger yacht, the Kiwi challenge drew great attention through their fast boat and capable sailing.

1988: Big Boat Challenge

Five months after the completion of the Royal Perth Yacht Club's America's Cup competition, Fay issued a challenge to the San Diego Yacht Club. Using a strict reading of the Deed of Gift, Fay realized he could challenge with any yacht that was 90 feet or less at the waterline and require the defending yacht club to meet him in ten months time. He worked with designer Bruce Farr and Tom Schnackenberg to build a gigantic monohull called New Zealand or KZ 1 . The boat was built by Steve Martin in Mt Wellington, Auckland and was launched on 27 March 1988.

Skippered by David Barnes with tactician Peter Lester, she was the maximum 23.47m along the waterline, or 90 feet, and was said to be the fastest monohull keelboat in the world at the time. However, as the Deed of Gift was being used to force the competition, the San Diego Yacht Club responded by taking advantage of the vague wording of the Deed and built a catamaran, Stars & Stripes (US 1), for the defense. Conner and his catamaran easily beat the big boat, KZ 1, 2-0 in the Deed of Gift races.

Fay challenged this outcome in court, claiming the defenders were "not sporting" in sailing a catamaran against his big boat. He won the initial ruling, but the finding of the lower court was overturned on appeal, and the outcome on the water was made to stand. The appellate court decision was then upheld when Fay pressed the issue before the New York State Supreme Court, thus ending the most sordid and controversial of the America's Cup competitions.

KZ 1 can still be seen in the Viaduct Harbour, outside the entrance to the New Zealand National Maritime Museum in Auckland, New Zealand.

1992: Bowsprit Scandal

Fay challenged again in 1992 with the distinctively red "NZL 20". In competition, Team New Zealand had another outstanding effort, and progressed through the regatta to the finals of the Louis Vuitton Cup where they faced Paul Cayard and the Italian syndicate of Il Moro di Venezia. Leading 4-1 in the series, a protest from Il Moro over NZL 20's use of a bowsprit was upheld. The result of the protest was that Team New Zealand was docked one of its race wins (bringing the series score back to 3-1) and was required to remove the bowsprit. The New Zealand team never recovered from the enforced changes and blow to morale, losing the next 4 races and the series, 5-3.

Founding

Following the 1992 America's Cup competition, Michael Fay withdrew from backing the New Zealand challenges for the Cup. A new effort under the leadership of Peter Blake and Alan Sefton began putting together a team, raising funds and gaining support for the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron.^[2]

1995: Black Magic

In 1995 TNZ stunned the world, beating Team Dennis Conner 5-0 in a "Blackwash" off San Diego, California after winning the right to challenge in the Louis Vuitton Cup. The 1995 challenge had everything - the boat was fast (their winning yacht NZL 32 was nicknamed Black Magic), they had a smart crew led by skipper Russell Coutts, and they were ably led by Sir Peter Blake. Coining the famous phrase by sailing commentator Pete Montgomery, "The America's Cup is now New Zealand's cup!".

Both NZL 32 and NZL-38 were built under the supervision of Tim Gurr at the McMullen & Wing yard, Auckland, New Zealand and were launched in September 1993.

The winning yacht NZL 32 was shipped back to New Zealand and gifted to Te Papa Museum. On 1 May 2008, It was announced by the Hon. Prime Minister Helen Clark, that NZL-32 will become the new centrepiece to the Sir Peter Blake Exhibition entitled: 'Blue Water Black Magic' in the New Zealand National Maritime Museum on Hobson Wharf, Viaduct Harbour, Auckland. NZL-32 is to be suspended from the ceiling with numerous exhibits surrounding her about Sir Peter's life. In addition many other New Zealand designed yachts will be on display along with stories and history of New Zealand yachtsmen and women. Construction on the new exhibition commenced in July 2008 and is planned to be completed by November 2009.

2000: "Still New Zealand's Cup"

TNZ (NZL 60) beat Italy's Prada Challenge (Luna Rossa) 5-0 in the 2000 match held on Auckland's Hauraki Gulf. On crossing the finish line in the final race, commentator Peter Montgomery exclaimed "The America's Cup is still New Zealand's cup!!" - echoing his comment in 1995 America's Cup.

2003: "Loyal"; Defeat

In 2003, Team New Zealand's eight-year reign ended after they were defeated 5-0 by Swiss-based challenger Alinghi. TNZ dubbed their campaign the "Loyal" campaign, featuring a Silver fern flag with the word "Loyal" and an existing song of the same name by New Zealand musician Dave Dobbyn. This was largely due to the Swiss boat featuring many of the afterguard members from TNZ's previous campaigns (notably Russell Coutts and Brad Butterworth) which, along with a fast boat and a lack of reliability aboard TNZ's NZL 82, contributed to the win.

2007: Emirates Team New Zealand

NZL-92 returning to port in Valencia during the America's Cup regatta

In 2007, the re-branded Emirates Team New Zealand won the Louis Vuitton Cup and advanced to the 32nd America's Cup against defenders Alinghi. Team New Zealand lost the series 2 - 5 to Alinghi, the last by a single second.

Valencia

In late 2003, TNZ announced their intention to challenge Alinghi at the 2007 Valencia America's Cup, with Emirates on board as title sponsor, and Grant Dalton as Team Boss. Dean Barker skippered a more international team than ever before. TNZ were among the "big four" syndicates leading up to the 2007 Cup. The big four consisted of TNZ, Alinghi, BMW Oracle Racing and Luna Rossa.

In the 2007 Louis Vuitton Cup to select the challenger to face Alinghi, TNZ lost their first match to Mascalzone Latino-Capitalia Team, a team who they had beaten in each of their five encounters in the Louis Vuitton Acts. They then won their next 7 races, before losing the final two in round robin 1 to Luna Rossa and BMW Oracle Racing which put them in third place at the end of the first round robin. In Round Robin 2, Team New Zealand were undefeated throughout, taking first place from BMW Oracle Racing. They won their semi-final 5-2 series against Desafío Español 2007 and qualified for the finals of the Louis Vuitton Cup 2007 against Luna Rossa. In the finals, they defeated Luna Rossa with a whitewash victory of 5-0, winning the Louis Vuitton Cup and the right to challenge Alinghi for the America's Cup.

On 3 July 2007, Emirates Team New Zealand lost their final race to Alinghi bringing Alinghi's race wins to 5, successfully defending the 32nd America's cup.

Americas Cup...

• Race 1: Lost to Alinghi By 35 Seconds
• Race 2: Beat Alinghi By 28 Seconds
• Race 3: Beat Alinghi By 25 Seconds
• Race 4: Lost to Alinghi by 30 Seconds
• Race 5: Lost to Alinghi by 19 Seconds
• Race 6: Lost to Alinghi by 28 Seconds
• Race 7: Lost to Alinghi by 1 Second

Alinghi wins the America's Cup, 5-2.

2009 Louis Vuitton Pacific Series

Team New Zealand hosted the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series in January and February 2009 on the Waitemata Harbour in the Hauraki Gulf, Auckland. Team New Zealand defeated Alinghi by a margin of 3 races to 1 in the final. The final races were reduced to the best of five due to difficult weather conditions resulting in the loss of one day's racing.

2010 Louis Vuitton Trophy

In March 2010, the Louis Vuitton Trophy regatta returned to Auckland after the first regatta of the series in Nice in November 2009 won by Italy's Azzurra team. On Sunday 21 March 2010, Emirates Team New Zealand won the final of the Louis Vuitton Trophy Auckland regatta with an emphatic 56 sec win over Mascalzone Latino. ^[3]

Team New Zealand's Volvo Open 70 in London, September 2011.

Volvo Ocean Race

On 13 April 2010, along with Camper, the Spanish-based international footwear manufacturer, Emirates Team New Zealand announced that it would compete in the Volvo Ocean Race in 2011-12. The campaign will be run by Emirates Team New Zealand and will be skippered by Olympic and round-the-world yachtsman Chris Nicholson. This announcement led to Emirates Team New Zealand being recognised at the forefront of yachting teams worldwide, as they are actively competing or preparing for the America' Cup, Volvo Ocean Race, TP-52 Med Cup and the Louis Vuitton Trophy simultaneously. ^[4]

2013 America's Cup San Francisco

On 21 April 2011, Grant Dalton and Emirates Team New Zealand announced their entry for the 2013 America's Cup regatta to be held in San Francisco in 2013. New sponsor Nespresso came on board through parent company Nestle. Grant Dalton expressed his gratitude to numerous corporate interests based around the world, namely Matteo De Nora and Stephen Tindall among others, in keeping the team afloat through the intervening years in what has been a difficult fours years since the last multi-challenger event in Valencia 2007. ^[5]

Yachts Used by Team New Zealand

• NZL 32 - "Black Magic" International America's Cup Class. 1995 Americas Cup Winner
• NZL 38 - "Black Magic II" International America's Cup Class. 1995 Louis Vuitton Cup Winner
• NZL 57 - International America's Cup Class. Training Boat for 2000 Defence
• NZL 60 - International America's Cup Class. 2000 Americas Cup Winner
• NZL 68 - International America's Cup Class. Training Boat bought from Illbruck Challenge (formerly GER 68)
• NZL 81 - International America's Cup Class. Training Boat for 2003 Defence
• NZL 82 - International America's Cup Class. Americas Cup defender in 2003 but defeated 5-0. Used for Louis Vuitton Acts in preparation for the 2007 America's Cup and won the 2004 season
• NZL 84 - 2007 generation International America's Cup Class. Launched in 2006. Won 2006 Louis Vuitton Season
• NZL 92 - 2007 generation International America's Cup Class. Launched in October 2006. Won the 2007 Louis Vuitton Cup. Lost the Americas Cup 2-5
• CAMPER - 2011 generation Volvo VO70 - Volvo Open 70. Launched in April 2011 for the 2011-2012 Volvo Ocean Race

References

1. ^ The Man Who Started It All, 2007-06-22, Access: 2007-06-26.
2. ^ Russell Coutts. America's Cup 2000, Hodder Moa Beckett, 1999. ISBN 1-86958-717-0 p.27.
3. ^ http://www.emiratesteamnz.com/news/2010/emphatic-win-gives-etnz-the-title.aspx
4. ^ http://www.emiratesteamnz.com/news/2010/4/13/etnz-joins-camper-for-the-vor.aspx
5. ^ http://www.emiratesteamnz.com/news/2011/4/21/dalton-confirms-we're-in-the-cup.aspx

External links

• Official Website of Emirates Team New Zealand
• Peter Lester NZ yachting commentator