Last updated 14:21, June 26 2018
STUFF
Emirates Team New Zealand have enjoyed taking the America's Cup to the country's heartland.
Emirates Team New Zealand have enjoyed taking the America's Cup to the country's heartland.
Team New Zealand boss Grant Dalton has warned his syndicate not to lose their common touch as the hype of a hometown America's Cup builds.
The team and the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron are about to celebrate the one-year anniversary of their Cup win in Bermuda and the pace of development around their 2021 defence in Auckland will only quicken.
Emirates Team New Zealand's big move off the water this year will be shifting from their grungy Beaumont Street base to the Viaduct Events Centre which will be revamped for them amidst the major development of the area to accommodate challenging teams.
Emirates Team New Zealand boss Grant Dalton is happy with the America's Cup defence plans a year on from their Bermuda success.
There will be some mixed emotions for the syndicate as they make the move from the spartan headquarters that have come to reflect their successful No 8 wire approach compared to the luxuries afforded their well-heeled opponents over the last two Cups.
Team New Zealand plan to shift in October with a major refit of the large facility required to suit their needs.
Team New Zealand plan to move into their new base at Auckland's Viaduct Events Centre in October.
"It's really important when we go into that base, because it's flash, that we don't lose sight of who we are," Dalton told Stuff.
"Our current base is basically a disused WW2 bunker. But it has actually helped create our culture. It's gritty, it's grimy and everyone is basically stuck in the same room.
"We are very conscious when we move to the flash VEC that we hold on to that gritty, all-in-together Team New Zealand culture that has been our success really."
Dalton is pretty comfortable with the progress made since lifting the Cup last June when they blitzed Oracle Team USA.
The heated issue of redeveloping Auckland's central waterfront to produce a worthy Cup village seems to have cooled enough for commonsense to prevail on a tight timeline and Dalton feels the Government and Auckland City's crucial relationship "is going well".
The syndicate have retained the core sailing and design team to give confidence that the innovations that have highlighted their last two campaigns can continue.
Dalton has been busy doing what he does best, raising sponsorship money to turn dreams into reality.
He's also been trying to persuade more challengers to turn up and is hopeful the fleet will build.
"It's been a busy year and a year ago I don't think you'd envisage where we'd be now," Dalton said, already throwing things forward another year "with boats in the water ready to start racing".
Running the event and the team had added pressure to the Kiwi syndicate. Current resources meant they had to operate as "one-arm paperhangers" but the responsibilities will be split as this Cup cycle quickly evolves.
Dalton felt the controversial move to abandon the catamarans and return to monohulls in the form of a huge 75-foot foiling version was starting to be vindicated as he saw the first scaled-down versions emerge.
Sir Ben Ainslie's Team INEOS UK already have a small test version in the water and noted French designer Philippe Briand has produced a 6.5m version aimed at the consumer market which, ultimately, fits Team New Zealand's long-term vision of using the Cup to benefit the wider marine industry.
"Seeing the English boat come out was pleasing for us. That will effectively be proof of concept. And when I saw Briand's, I thought: 'Yep, that's exactly what we want to do with it … the trickle down'. So I'm really pleased with the way the design has been accepted."
The official entry period closes on June 30. After that late entries will incur an additional US$1m fee.
Ainslie's well-funded outfit along with the New York Yacht Club's American Magic, and Italian challenger of record Luna Rossa are the only entries declared publicly so far. Could we expect a surprise at the end of the week?
"Possibly," says Dalton, without any real confidence in his tone.
"No doubt I would like more entries at this point. I'm working with about four but whether any of those ones make the 30th of June, I'm not sure. But, yes, I'd like more entries."
He's a bit bemused by the low numbers.
"I can't put my finger on it. It's not the complication of the boat."
Which turns to the big money involved.
"Even though there is more money around I have found it harder than normal and it takes longer than normal," Dalton said, adding that major companies now wanted more "realism" around their sponsorships.
Team New Zealand have been operating cleverly on their budget. While the design process unfolds they have kept their key sailors busy, often on other people's wages, and have maintained success.
Blair Tuke and Peter Burling have just completed their first round the world races, finishing second and third respectively with Spanish and Dutch teams. Grinder Carlo Huisman was also involved with Burling's Team Brunel.
Josh Junior and Andy Maloney have been dominant forces in international regattas as they work an Olympic Finn programme. Burling and Tuke are expected to get back into their 49er soon with an eye on defending gold at Tokyo 2016.
Glenn Ashby has just won the GC32 world title in a foiling catamaran and will soon shift to his A-class catamaran while Ray Davies had helped his American team to second on the table after two regattas in the highly-competitive TP52 monohull series.
"The crew are going well and it's all relevant," smiled Dalton.