Man captures fans' joy four years after painful America's Cup loss

Four years ago James Barr was at Shed 10 in Auckland to capture the jubilation on peoples faces in the moment Team New Zealand won the America's Cup.

With TNZ up 8-1 he headed down day after day waiting for the special moment.

"We've only got another seven races to go, surely we're going to win one," Barr told his colleague.

Victory never came.

Four years later, with TNZ up 7-1 over Oracle, Barr turned to his friend and said: "What are you doing tomorrow, shall we head down and film?"

After an agonising four-year wait Barr got the job done, capturing the joy on the faces of fans.

In a video posted to YouTube, Barr created a video of fans' contrasting emotions from the agony of 2013 to the jubilation of 2017.

In a post to Facebook, the film-maker wrote: "Here's a little update to the film we made 4 years ago. It's a good day to be a Kiwi."

Barr told the Herald there was a clear difference in atmosphere between the two campaigns.

In 2013 fans looked on with tears streaming down their faces as Oracle pipped Team New Zealand 9-8 to win the America's Cup. Photo / James Barr

"There was a bigger buzz with people more invested in it in 2013. Last time we saw the same people every day, it was amazing. But when we lost people couldn't look away. It was a day of national mourning.

"But today there was knife-edge tension. People were thinking 'anything could happen, we could nosedive'.

"But when we crossed the line people were up on their feet and it was massive. It has been epic.

"It was great, and no one else in the world really knows about it, we're all yachting nerds in New Zealand.

"We smashed them!"

After four years James Barr could complete his project of capturing Team New Zealand fans celebrating winning the America's Cup. Photo / James Barr

Barr, whose film company Useful Films creates quirky clips and ads, said the video, titled We Are Still Team New Zealand, was a personal project produced for love.

The film has been sent to Grant Dalton and Team NZ but Barr believes there will be a lot of partying before they sit down and recap the history they have created.