Twenty years on from the tragic loss of Sir Peter Blake, the sailing world remembers a giant amongst men. A visionary in conservation, a master mariner offshore, an America’s Cup winner, Sir Peter was everything, embodying a Kiwi spirit that is inspiring, no-nonsense, practical and determined. That spirit lives on in New Zealand yachting and I’m certain he would be pleased to see the torch of conservation and sustainability passing effortlessly on through to today’s superstars of the sport – both in New Zealand and around the world. It’s a heck of a fire he lit.
And as his legacy burns ever brighter, and our recollections grown fonder as the years pass, I wonder what he would make of the current Cup scenario. We have entries galore for AC37 and that’s just fantastic to see – Alinghi coming back is the biggest sign of all – but Luna Rossa and American Magic also allegedly in the mix alongside a committed Challenger of Record in Ineos Britannia would have Sir Peter’s competitive juices flowing. But ever the pragmatist, he would be looking at those money-no-object challenges and navigating a safe path to victory. If that meant overseas, so be it.
It’s a difficult situation now. I would go as far as saying it’s critical and the reports in the Kiwi business media, aping what I’ve been writing for over a week now but amplified with on-the-record quotes from Team New Zealand, is that the home team will collapse if motions are passed that demand the event in Auckland.
For the agitators on the other side, I don’t see any evidence that they’ve grasped this yet. There’s still briefings going on denouncing this and that and almost claiming a nobility in poverty – there’s no nobility in poverty. Shoe-string defences lose. How much clearer can that be?
With the might of Bertarelli, Bertelli, De Vos and Ratcliffe ranged against Team New Zealand, the membership of the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron have a decision to make, the consequences of which are wide-ranging – far more than would appear.
If you play the tape forward, Team New Zealand collapses and the most valuable IP and personnel walks. They won’t be back in a hurry and from the ashes of ruin, mediocrity arises. The Cup is done and dusted in an embarrassment of a cobbled-together defence that would place the sailors like lambs to the slaughter. Auckland wouldn’t thank them.
An alternative version, played before the membership, sees Team New Zealand and the RNZYS sign off on the Hosting Agreements already in place and a significant financial lifeline is thrown from overseas, enabling the very best chance of capitalising on the commonly held belief that the design team is at least six months ahead, if not more.
Everyone is playing catch-up and it doesn’t matter if you’ve got petrol-heads scaring the design horses, what Team New Zealand has is clear areas of immediate improvement, a massive understanding of the nuances of the Protocol they wrote (and I have been told by the team that they are happy with what they got from that process – and that’s a worry) and the best team with one of the very best drivers imaginable. Even Slingsby looks up to Outteridge.
It’s a stark choice. There are angling sharks circling the carcass, for what end-game no-one truly knows, but in a stroke of the members’ votes they are off back to the depths, probably never to be seen again. The mighty Kiwi whale miraculously recovers and swims off effortlessly to sunny horizons. Stay wallowing and they’re dead meat, consumed alive, picked off by media pronouncements, ten-a-penny vanity commentary and rampant ego with a scary sub-text.
Hardly the Kiwi way. Sir Peter wouldn’t tolerate it. The right decision needs to be taken this week. Grant Dalton needs thunderous support to ring out loud and clear from the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron. The team members need to hear and feel that Kiwi roar. Sponsors need to know that the team’s strategy is supported full-square by the club. No doubt. No politics. No nonsense. Blake’s way.
I have every faith it will and Team New Zealand will be mandated to excellence.
Again.
