The Royal New Zealand Yacht Club is planning to tour the country with their latest prize, the America’s Cup they pirated away from the U.S. Team Oracle squad in Bermuda just recently.
Team New Zealand drank champagne from the Cup when they returned to Auckland in July. Why they chose bubbly over grog is anyone’s guess. As far as we know, rum in available in New Zealand, but perhaps a higher level of sailing, yachting, demands a higher pedigree in terms of libations.
Emirates Team New Zealand will be on the road for two weeks, beginning with the Taipa Sailing Club in the Far North before concluding at the Bluff Yacht Club.
The America’s Cup will zigzag around the country, with the final day of the tour slated for October 17 at the Plymouth Yacht Club.
The intent is to inspire young sailors to bet out on the actual briny and feel the breeze and the spray, as opposed to playing America’s Cup 2017 video games on their consoles and mobiles.
Team New Zealand Chief Buccaneer Grant Dalton touted the necessity of showing everyone in the small country the importance of competing on the world stage.
“We really felt the support from everyone all over New Zealand when we were in Bermuda and want to repay that support by getting it to as many people as possible,” Dalton said.”We want to get as many young kids interested in sailing as we can. What we are seeing now with today’s stars like Peter Burling, Blair Tuke, Andy Maloney & Josh Junior is that they are the generation of kids that were inspired by winning the cup in 1995 and 2000 and have emerged as the best in the world that have won the cup again.”
New Zealand has a strong sailing legacy, as could be expected from an island nation, but the sport of competitive sailing requires years of dedication by those aspiring to the upper echelon.