THE NEW ZEALAND CHALLENGE

However glorious New Zealand's America's Cup fate may be in the future, it is doubtful that we will again experience those very special emotions of the first New Zealand challenge for the ‘Auld Mug’, in 1987.

Of course, we have since known the unbelievably sweet taste of victory in the "Black Magic" show of 1995 and the great satisfaction of witnessing a five-nil defense of the World's greatest sporting trophy on home waters in 2000. But, although confident of our high standard in nearly every other level of the sport of sailing, in 1987 a big question mark hung over our ability to shape-up in competition for the biggest prize of all!

The America's Cup regatta is not just a series of races between the defending yacht and a challenger. It is an international showcase of technical excellence in yacht hull, spars and sail design and construction. It demands management and entrepreneurial skills of the highest order to ensure that the contending syndicates are financed sufficiently to withstand the enormous costs involved in design, development, construction and operating the entire infrastructure over a work-up period of three, four or maybe more years between regattas. And of course, the yachts must be helmed and crewed by the world's best sailing talent.

In 1983 the Alan Bond led "Australia II" syndicate, with skipper John Bertrand and a very experienced crew, defeated the American defender "Liberty" skippered by Dennis Conner at Newport, Rhode Island. The America's Cup was unbolted and removed from the New York Yacht Club for the first time in 132 years!

This meant that the next defense of the America's Cup would be on the waters of the Indian Ocean off Freemantle, Western Australia. Suddenly, New Zealand sailors realised that the proximity of the Australian defense put the next America's Cup regatta within the realms of possibility for a New Zealand challenge. Within weeks of the "Australia II" victory, rumours were running wild with regard to the make-up of various New Zealand challenge syndicates, but as time went by it seemed that the rumours were just scuttlebutt.

Then, suddenly, on March 31 1984 a mysterious Sydney based Belgian businessman Marcel Fachler paid the 000 entry fee on behalf of the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron! Mr. Fachler then vanished as quick as he had appeared and behind the scenes lobbying to find the right people to finance and lead a challenge, gave rise to another round of rumour and speculation. However, the announcement of Michael Fay as syndicate head was followed by real action. The New Zealand Challenge was under way!

The rest is history. The success of KZ5 in the first race of the 1986 pre-America's Cup International 12 Metre Class regatta set the Nation alight and the glorious progress of KZ7 "Kiwi Magic" through the America's Cup Challenger series in 1987 has became New Zealand sporting folk lore.

The finals of the challenger series pitched the legendary American sailor Dennis Conner and his experienced "Stars and Stripes" team against the New Zealand "Kiwi Magic" team led by the fledgling twenty five year old Chris Dickson and his young crew. Conner, smarting from living with the fact that he was the man who lost the 'Cup in 1983 was taking no prisoners in his quest to regain it! His campaign against the legality of the fiberglass reinforced plastic construction of the New Zealand boat created 'Glass-gate' and the New Zealand public, unbelievably wound-up by 'their' teams successes in the three round-robin series, viewed Conner as the bad guy!

Mortification was complete when "Stars and Stripes" took the final four-one. There was some comfort in the fact that the Americans went on to hammer the Australian defender "Kookaburra 3" four-nil.

In the painting "CHASE TO THE WING MARK" I have expressed my enduring memory of the first New Zealand Challenge for the America's Cup, with two great Twelve Metre Class yachts charging down a reaching leg on Gage Roads in conditions typical of the '87 Louis Vuitton Challenger regatta. The highly skilled sailors on "Kiwi Magic" and "Stars and Stripes", drove these 'lead mines' down-wind arguably as no other 'Twelves had been driven before. And of course in the painting, my favourite Twelve is leading the charge!

__________________________________

"ON PACIFIC SWELLS is a painting which I hope, conveys the power and majesty of Michael Fay's 1988 America's Cup Challenger and was inspired by an article in a southern Californian life-style magazine, which was sent to me shortly after the 'Big Boat' v catamaran debacle had entered the courtroom phase.

In short, the writer, a retired Californian professional journalist in his late seventies, was expressing his disgust at the San Diego Yacht Club's decision to, as he put it, 'forget about the great American sporting tradition and take the sleazy route to victory’.

He then continued to relate a day upon the Pacific, out of San Diego with his son and two grandson's, in the son's new forty-two foot twin diesel cruiser. It was two weeks before the 'Challenge races were sailed and although fishing was the aim of the excursion, the writer was hoping that they might get a good look at the giant sloop from New Zealand. It had been out crew training every day the previous week so he considered their chances high for a sighting.

It was late in the afternoon when they caught sight of KZ1, about a mile south of their position. In the long, gentle Pacific swell, it was often only possible to see the top half of her rig if both craft were in a trough so the decision was made to close in on the quarry and get a grandstand look! The writer continues;

‘As we closed to within a couple of hundred feet, the crew of one of the Challengers support craft began to get nervous and changed course accelerating toward us to keep us at a safe distance. Brad immediately throttled right back to reassure the Kiwi 'minders'. Then we gazed in awe at the most wonderful racing yacht I had ever seen!

‘I thought of Nathaniel Herreshoff and his 'Reliance' the great defender that defeated Tommy Sopwith's 'Shamrock III' in 1903 and I wondered what either of those gentlemen would have to said to the US Defence of 1988! As I pondered the actions of my fellow American's, the Kiwi's, who had been hard on port tack, eased away on a reach and appeared to be heading straight for us. Brad eased into gear and was beginning to move away to starboard as a precautionary measure, but then I realised that this space-age sloop was generating so much apparent wind from the eight to ten knots that was blowing, that they were having to bear away at an amazing rate to keep their huge sails trimmed.

‘Then the young Kiwi crew hoisted and broke out this free-luff sail called a 'Genniker'. It was the biggest goddamned sail I had ever seen! At that moment there was a perceptible one to two knot increase in the actual wind speed and this appeared to put her momentarily beyond her powered-up limit. There was a thundering response to this situation as the crew eased sheets, the winch drums and light-weight hull working like a giant sound-box. We were only fifty or sixty feet away and the sight of this beautiful craft bursting over the crest of a swell and the skill of those New Zealand sailors was mesmeric.

'My youngest grandson Bill turned to me and said "will she fly Grand-pop?"

__________________________________
 

A new era of America's Cup competition began in San Diego in 1992!

Four years earlier, the laughable non-contest between the huge 47 metre sloop 'New Zealand', the challenger and the much smaller but very much faster 18 metre catamaran 'Stars and Stripes' the defender, created a situation that led to those responsible for the future of the America's Cup competition to take drastic action!

From the ashes of San Diego 1988, rose the new rules for the International America's Cup Class (IACC). Conceived by yachting authorities around the world, the new formula presented designers with the challenge to create racing machines with an overall length of a little under 23 metres and a displacement much less than that of the smaller 12 metre Class, used in America's Cup competition from 1962 until 1987.

With real claims to unfinished business, Sir Michael Fay led another challenge in the name of the Mercury Bay Boating Club and again Bruce Farr was the designer charged with creating a winner for the 1992 America's Cup Regatta.

What was to be a four - boat campaign looked well on track when one of the early red New Zealand boats won the fleet racing section of the IACC 'worlds' sailed twelve months before the AC regatta. However, in the match racing finals of the 'worlds', the Italian boat "Il Moro di Venezia" beat New Zealand by more than a minute.

Eleven months later the New Zealand team unveiled it's fourth and ultimate challenger, NZL 20. The press immediately labeled it a 'breakthrough' boat. Lighter than the trend set by other challengers, sporting a 'canard' keel with twin fins for steering and at the bow, a 'bowsprit' to assist with gybing the genniker, the dockside was buzzing with comment!

In the early rounds of the Louis Vuitton challenger regatta, the 'little red boat" performed well and hopes were high for New Zealand success and indeed, helmsman Rod Davis, tactician David Barnes and a very competent crew won their way through to the final of the challenger series.

To become the challenger in the 1992 America's Cup regatta, "New Zealand" had to beat the Italian challenger, "Il Moro di Venezia", designed and built with an almost unlimited budget and helmed by hired American gun Paul Cayard, a sailor with an enormous reputation for his skill and determination. However, regardless of reputations, after five races NZL 20 was 4-1 up and New Zealand was making plans to stage the 1995 America's Cup regatta!

But then the wheels fell off!

The bowsprit had been controversial from the moment NZL 20 appeared on the water off San Diego and realising the Kiwi's needed only one more win to become the challenger, Paul Cayard raised the protest flag and the Italians began a fierce campaign to derail the New Zealand challenge.

History tells us that the Italians won in the protest room and proceeded to sail "Il Moro" to victory and become the challenger for the America's Cup regatta. They were beaten 4-1 by Bill Koch's defender, "America III".

My painting "THE LITTLE RED SKIFF" portrays NZL 20 in a close racing situation with "Il Moro di Venecia" during the Louis Vuitton Cup regatta final in 1992. The after-guard of the New Zealand yacht can almost be heard asking the breeze to swing further to the right!

__________________________________
 

In 1995 the San Diego Yacht Club staged its third consecutive defence of the America's Cup since winning it back from Australia in 1987.

Considering the disappointment associated with New Zealand's previous challenge and the question being asked by Kiwi sailors and the New Zealand sporting public at large; "What do we have to do to win the Auld Mug?" it was surprising that two New Zealand challengers were announced for AC 1995.

Chris Dixon, 'the U-boat commander' and Kiwi hero of 1987 and leader of the 'japiwis' in the Nippon challenge in 1992, was back sailing for New Zealand in a one-boat, low budget effort backed in spirit by the Tutukaka South Pacific Yacht Club and very few financial sponsors.

Further south, the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron flag flew with Team New Zealand, a Peter Blake led group of veterans from previous 'Cup campaigns, with a new philosophy in attaining the magic mix of design genius and sailing perfection with a two-boat campaign.

Formidable challengers from other countries tempered any outrageous pre-contest statements about New Zealand's chances, but as the challenger series progressed and Team New Zealand's "Black Magic II" NZL 38 was continually knocking opponents down like bottles off a wall, a very good feeling began to cover the little country down-under!

But also making Kiwi's proud was Tutukaka's Bruce Farr designed "Tag Heuer", skillfully handled by helmsman Chris Dickson and tactician Peter Lester. These two big-boat veterans, operating on a shoe string budget, successfully blended a crew of experience and inexperience together on the race course and like Team New Zealand, won through to the Louis Vuitton semi-finals.

However, if the "Tag Heuer" team sweated over the points needed to make the final four, Team New Zealand continued their inexorable progress to the big showdown, winning, winning! And then the team from New Zealand threw the dockside pundits a curve ball by announcing that they would sail their older boat "Black Magic I" NZL 32 in the semi-finals! But surely it can't be faster than NZL 38!

Well, it just so happened that Team New Zealand knew all along that NZL 32 was a tweak or two quicker than 38. Despite some gallant competition from the One Australian syndicate in their second string boat (their ultimate boat broke up and sank during a fourth round race with NZL 38), Team New Zealand took their nation to a new level of America's Cup excitement when they won the Louis Vuitton Cup and became the challenger for the America's Cup 1995!

The defender was "Young America". Dennis Conner was the skipper, Paul Cayard the helmsman. Here was the ultimate target for Kiwi sports fans! Would the Americans be the final bottle on the wall? No one could argue with the experience on board the Defender, but there were doubts about their technical readiness. Past disappointment tempered Kiwi excitement.

But from the start of the first race of the 1995 America's Cup regatta, it was obvious that Team New Zealand had got it right! Black Magic? Indeed!

As I painted the Black Boat sheeting in for another smooth leeward mark rounding I kept thinking of two words; "PURE MAGIC". They sit nicely with a five-zip score line!

__________________________________
 

The euphoria of America’s Cup victory kept the New Zealand public on a sporting high for many months after the 1995 San Diego demolition job performed by skipper Russell Coutts and the crew aboard NZL 32! It was a complete and utter thrashing of the American defender!

Team New Zealand realized that they had set a new benchmark in technical excellence in design and a no-nonsense professional attitude to crew management of the yacht. They also new that many Challengers for the next Regatta would have a score to settle. There was damaged pride aplenty and a lot of money would be thrown at the repair of shattered reputations in the year 2000!

But there was a lot of work to do if the Auckland waterfront was to be made ready for the up-coming defense by the Peter Blake led Team New Zealand. The announced AC Regatta date of millennium year 2000 was coming under heavy criticism from many challenging syndicates. They complained that five years was too large a gap between regatta’s but the fact was, that a great deal of construction was needed to provide facilities expected of by Challengers and visiting spectators alike.

This space also gave Team New Zealand the time to re-group and prepare for what was expected to be an all-out attempt to take the ‘Auld Mug’ back to the Northern Hemisphere. As it turned out, the five year lead time gave the City of Auckland just time enough to prepare itself for the influx of Super Yachts and thousands of visitors who traveled to New Zealand in late 1999 to see the start of the Louis Vuitton Round Robins. Challengers were facing the start of a long, tough process of elimination to find a challenger to race Team New Zealand for the America’s Cup in February 2000.

Five American syndicates were among the eleven challengers. Of these, ‘Young America’ from the New York Yacht Club and ‘AmericaOne’ representing the St Francis Yacht Club in San Fransisco, were expected to be leading contenders. Helmed by Ed Baird and Paul Cayard respectively, these well funded syndicates appeared to have the potential to win the Louis Vuitton Cup.

Less favoured but certainly not ignored was Dennis Connor’s ‘Stars and Stripes’ entry. However, Dennis was open about a lack of sponsor support due to the number of challengers from the U.S. Also suffering from low budgets, ‘America True’, representing the St. Francis Yacht Club and ‘Abracadabra’ from the Waikiki Yacht Club.

However, as the Louis Vuitton series proceeded, two yachts got stronger with competition and from the semi-finals, ‘America One’ and the well-funded Italian entry ‘Prada’, proceeded to the finals. ‘Prada’ went on to challenge ‘Team New Zealand’ for the America’s Cup and were beaten 5-nil. Russell Coutts, Peter Blake and Co. had successfully lifted the bar above the rest…Again!

My painting, A PERFECT START is of a critical moment in two matters.The start was a perfectly orchestrated tactical performance by Brad Butterworth and helming his way to fame was Dean Barker! Russell Coutts had already led his team to a 4-nil lead over the challenger ‘Prada’ and he stepped aside and let his sparring partner in many practice races, helm NZL 60, in what was to be the final race of AC 2000.

__________________________________
 

New Zealand euphoric again!

But within months of the second victory, shock, horror!

The dream was falling apart! Russell Coutts, Brad Butterworth, Simon Daubney, Murray Jones and others associated with ‘Team Magic’ were leaving to join a new Swiss syndicate extremely well funded by Swiss Industrialist, Ernesto Bertarelli. Tales of inflated ego and over-extended ideas of self-worth flourished. Cries of ‘how dare they’ resounded throughout the land and the behavior of some lent credence to the suspicion that the New Zealand sporting public needed to grow-up!

But Team New Zealand shook itself like a dog returning from the river and led by Tom Schnakenberg and Dean Barker, set about preparing themselves for another defence in 2003. NZL 81 and NZL 82 were the new creations representing the latest thinking within the Kiwi design team.

The Swiss ‘Alinghi’ syndicate just got stronger and stronger during the Louis Vuitton challenger series and there was not a lot of surprise when Coutts and Co. sailed themselves into the challenger position.

In the first race of the America’s Cup regatta in February 2003, the New Zealand public held their breath as the first race started in a fresh Hauraki Gulf breeze with a moderate to large sea running. Then more horror! NZL 82 began to take on water in the sea-way and was unable to control the rising tide within the yacht. A broken mast and a race lead handed back to ‘Alinghi’ due to an apparent tactical error, made for an easy America’s Cup win for the Swiss.

My painting OVERSHADOWED was conceived in a moment of kindness toward all sailors and depicts the very efficient and fast ‘Alinghi’ sliding across the weather of NZL 82.

Here’s to Valencia in 2007?