Defenders Oracle Team USA have completed one of sport’s greatest comebacks and broken New Zealand hearts by winning the 34th America’s Cup.
The US syndicate won race 19 by 44 seconds to beat challengers Team New Zealand 9-8, capping a remarkable final series which they trailed 8-1 a week ago.
Oracle’s crew celebrated wildly as they crossed the line and they were joined soon afterwards by team owner Larry Ellison, the software billionaire who bankrolled their campaign.
Improved crew work and substantial upgrades to their AC72 catamaran were the key to a monumental turnaround after they were outclassed in the first week of the final.
The Team NZ sailors were a picture of dejection, with their boat again unable to match the speed of the winners.
Team NZ were leading at the first mark after coming off the favoured end of the start line.
They were still narrowly ahead after the second leg downwind but it was the third leg, upwind, which again proved decisive.
Oracle’s superior speed simply carried them past the Kiwi boat in the early part of the leg and the Kiwis could do nothing from that point, finding themselves further behind every time they crossed.
The fourth and fifth legs were a procession for Oracle, who defend the Auld Mug for the first time since winning it from Swiss syndicate Alinghi in 2010.
Oracle’s Australian skipper James Spithill attributed victory to the work of his crew, which included British four-time Olympic gold medallist Sir Ben Ainslie, whose introduction as tactician midway through the final was deemed a key moment. He teamed with Australian strategist Tom Slingsby, also an Olympic gold medallist.
“To come from behind, the guys just showed so much heart,” Spithill said.
“It really is about the team. On your own, you’re nothing but, when you’ve got a team like this around you, they can make you look great.”
Spithill says it is appropriate Oracle came from behind to win the decider, saying it summed up the fighting attitude of the team.
“We wouldn’t have had it any other way.
“To be facing the barrel of the gun at 8-1, what did these guys do? They didn’t even flinch.”
The result is a cruel one for Team NZ, whose campaign was supported by $NZ36 million ($A32 million) of public money.
They had the Cup in their grasp when they were less than four minutes from the finish line in race 13 on Saturday. However, the race was abandoned when the maximum race time limit of 40min was reached, leaving the score at 8-2.
It is the second unsuccessful challenge for Team NZ since they lost the cup to Alinghi in 2003.
They challenged the Swiss for the prize unsuccessfully at Valencia in 2007, losing 5-2.
JimmyB
Guest
Quite right Sandbox, England are still choking on their 3-0 victory in the Ashes. Major choke indeed. Lol.
JimmyB
Guest
Don't bloody well read it then Expat. I find it incredible that you think that British media outlets wouldn't focus on a British participant in an event that nobody in Britain gives two hoots about. When it comes to jingoism the British will always come a distant second to their Australian cousins I'm afraid.
rae1
Guest
Well said :)
Donnelly
Guest
you mean gassed by technology unlike the ones which is choke by the capitation of the mind? Team USA smashed TNZs course record by an average 30 seconds-that cannot be done by sheer human effort-it was a change in Team USA boat design.
Donnelly
Guest
kiwis already talking up thier challenge too. Sir Russell Coutts is heading home, and Dot-Com is throwing his financial support which will likely end any speculation of the nz govt supporting tnz given the relationships between dot-com and the Nationals. The publicity and the way the AC has turned out has given the even a real boost and will certainly entice more countires to enter the next AC.
SandBox
Roar Guru
http://gcaptain.com/wild-oats-challenges-oracle-americas-cup-reuters/
Australian Rules
Guest
Agree with all that Sam. But none of them come close to this complete gassing of the Americas Cup.
Wii
Guest
Aussie know how you are kidding right. The boat was built in NZ by kiwis it was crewed by kiwis all Spithill did was steet the damn thing. Histaxtitician was a yank he got the boot so they brought in a pome. Did I mention they flew up a ea, of NZ engineers mid regatta???
James
Guest
Sandbox, in that case the US should be competing on its own-you dont get it. We like entering this contest because we underdogs love putting up a fight against bigger richer teams.
Sam
Guest
Kangaroos RL WC final choke. They fielded the best team ever and choked in the final. Kookaburras massive choke at the Olympics. Best Hockey team couldnt even get in the final. , SA cricket team choked big time. At least for the ABs they hold the RWC.
Sam
Guest
Honest bob-Team Oracle were down 8-1. Are you suggesting they were tactically better at this point? or did changes to thier boat help then overcome this deficit...thought so
Honest bob
Guest
It didn't make a difference as they were beaten by a better team. Tactically Oracle were miles ahead. That then translated into a faster boat. I do appreciate your moaning rather than opening your eyes to the facts. Greatest choke ever....
mickh
Guest
At least the Cup its self is safe for a few more years, safe it the knowledge that it won't be nearly beaten to death by a strange person from a country that supposedly wanted the thing so much. Now that was embarrassing. Oops, we all forgot about that little mishap didn't we?
SandBox
Roar Guru
you were leading 8-1. Not modifying the boat is at the heart of this, rather than a few lost starts, and certainly the teams otherwise were fairly even. $5M is not a lot of money to a major sponsor or government, it just sounds like a lot to us. If $5M was too hard to find then you shouldn't be in an expensive sport like America's Cup racing. Anyway, credit to you guys for putting up a good fight when you had the boat to do so
katzilla
Roar Guru
Hang on, TNZ won the last 2 starts, and was leading until the upwind leg where Oracle overtook them with pure boat speed. There literally was no way to stop them once their boat speed increased. Also finding 5m in NZ in the space of a few days isn't as easy as you think, the govt. contributed the majority of the funding for TNZ and there is simply no way that any govt. not run a by a tyrant, can free up 5m worth of funds in a day or two to spend on anything other then disaster response. If TNZ had a billionaire backer then sure, it could have been done. Also i agree with the Oracle and Spitall clutch call, no major mistakes when it counted and some luck too. They did very well. I don't agree with people saying Greg Norman was a choker, he simply had a couple of high profile chokes to his name.
SandBox
Roar Guru
I'll accept the RL WC as a choke. Because, like the ABs in 91, 95, 99, 03 and 07, the kangaroos were favourites going in. As for the Ashes, England only dominated in one test, if you ask me they choked and we performed well, given that the weather didn't work for us, and our team is not as strong. People keep going on about Greg Norman. I agree he did choke on a number of major's, but he also had some very bad luck with the Bob Tway and Larry Mize chip in. I doubt an overall choker would win 85 tournaments. Perhaps the worst people could level at Norman is: he choked at some majors (not all) back to the America's Cup. According to one article I read Ellison spent another $5M to get the additional boat speed. Whilst this might sound like a lot of money to us, I believe TNZ had already invested $50M, so finding another $5M, should have been fairly easy. Not finding the additional funds to get the extra speed is the reason I put this down as a choke. Also, losing so many starts towards the end was a choke. Hard to spin this as anything other than one of the biggest chokes in history, and a fairly good clutch effort by Oracle
Sam
Guest
last time I looked we have won 2 rugby world cups, 2 Americas cup and we currently hold the cup that you choked in trying to get-the rugby league world cup
Dsat24
Guest
The whole event was marred by the avoidable death of a sailor.
Kasey
Guest
Aussie knowhow+Yank money produces amazing results in medicine, here it has paid off in spades, poor Kiwis, you'd 8 to be 1 right now wouldn't you;)
Australian Rules
Guest
Nick, every country has had moments of choking - Aust, NZ, USA, Sth Af, Eng - but none ever quite like this.