Emirates Team New Zealand CEO Grant Dalton celebrates after defeating Oracle Team US. Photo / AP
Emirates Team New Zealand CEO Grant Dalton celebrates after defeating Oracle Team US. Photo / AP
Team New Zealand boss Grant Dalton has fired a parting shot at Jimmy Spithill and Oracle Team USA after lifting the America's Cup this morning.
Emirates Team New Zealand claimed the Auld Mug for a third time, the first since 2003, with a 7-1 series victory over Spithill's Oracle TeamUSA crew today.
Dalton told Newstalk ZB's Mike Hosking that he couldn't be prouder of the team after securing the America's Cup in fine fashion.
Image 1 of 15: Emirates Team New Zealand are welcomed by spectators after defeating Oracle Team USA in the America's Cup sailing competition. Photo / AP
"It's amazing. It's just an amazing atmosphere here. We just held our breath right to the last five metres, hoping nothing would go wrong. We sailed phenomenally well today under extreme pressure and they responded to the occasion, which was brilliant."
Dalton fired a shot at Oracle Team USA - saying he did not care how the Australian skipper is feeling after suffering his first America's Cup defeat. Spithill led a stunning comeback in 2013 when Oracle came back from 8-1 down to beat Team New Zealand 9-8.
"Frankly I couldn't care less about Spithill to tell you the truth," Dalton told Hosking.
"He was quite keen to get me ousted and probably has a good reason now. They did their best. The biggest software company in the world just got beaten by little old New Zealand software."
Dalton said that unlike Oracle Team USA, Team New Zealand would respect how the America's Cup is run and make it a fair event for all teams.
"They were good competition but I think what's important, and this is a key message we want to relay going forward, is that it's a privilege to hold the America's Cup - it's not a right. And was embodied in the way Team New Zealand was under Sir Peter Blake. If you're good enough to take it from us then you will and we'll try very hard to be good enough to keep it. We won't turn it so to make sure you can't."
Listen: Grant Dalton on the Mike Hosking Breakfast
Members of Team New Zealand, including Grant Dalton (second left), celebrate with the America's Cup. Photo / Ricardo Pinto
Dalton was confident going into today's racing but knew Oracle would lay down the challenge.
"You never know. Yacht racing can be a fickle sport and they [Oracle] came out in a quite different set up today looking for lighter wind that didn't eventuate. So we knew we'd be fast but we had to sail well as well because they were pretty good those guys, they don't sail badly.
"It's just embodied in who we are as New Zealanders really. We're tough and resilient and resourceful and really the team just embodied that and I'm just a part of it. I'm just so proud of the guys today. I really just can't explain how proud I am."
Dalton told Hosking that it's been a tough ride at times after the San Francisco defeat four years ago.
"It hasn't been easy. But little old New Zealand, we stayed at home and worked away. One of the guys just reminded me a few minutes ago that at the very start of this campaign we had a meeting and I said 'Let's just throw the ball as far away as we can this time and try and get to it'.
"And that was kind of the beginning of this development that brought us through. The changes, which I know were a little messy needed to be made, now feel quite justified."
