'The best Cup ever' - Trouble

By TERRY MADDAFORD

America's Cup veteran yachtsman Bruno Trouble is sold - New Zealand has staged the best cup regatta yet.

Trouble, a former French cup skipper and now Louis Vuitton Cup spokesman, raves about the show Auckland has staged for the world.

"There are three reasons why this is the best yet. One, the interest of the local people in the America's Cup, which was missing in San Diego. Two, turning the dirty old Viaduct into this wonderful cup village.

"And three, the demanding weather conditions have meant the best racing yet.

"The boats are so much closer than before. In 1995, after two days I knew Team New Zealand would win."

New Zealand's success in the waters off San Diego in 1995 was a triumph for some meticulous planning, culminating in having two fast boats - NZL32 and NZL38 - the flagships for Team New Zealand's first challenge for the America's Cup.

It was no big budget affair but the dedication of those involved coupled with the on-water skill of skipper Russell Coutts and his crew produced one of the most one-sided contests in Cup history.

Team New Zealand was formed in the latter part of 1992 when Sir Peter Blake was courted in England and agreed to return to New Zealand to join Alan Sefton in assessing a likely sponsorship base.

Convinced the money could be found, Blake paid the $US75,000 entry fee for the 1995 challenge.

Coutts was signed as skipper, Tom Schnackenberg as design coordinator.

In the Louis Vuitton Cup challenger's round-robin series, NZL38 was unbeaten on the water in 18 starts - one victory later taken from them in the protest room. Her work done, NZL38 was retired handing the job to NZL32 for the semifinals.

Unbeaten, Team New Zealand cruised into the final and swept aside oneAustralia 5-1.

After an amazing finale to the defender's series, Dennis Conner won the right to defend the America's Cup but surprised many when he turned up on the start line for the Match in Young America - a boat borrowed from another syndicate.

In double-quick time, NZL32 proved she was simply too good.

"Black Magic" who, through an ingenious "red socks" promotion had won the hearts and support of New Zealanders, romped to a 5-0 whitewash ensuring the Cup would next be sailed for in the Hauraki Gulf.

The formation of Team New Zealand followed three unsuccessful bids by Sir Michael Fay to win yachting's most coveted trophy.

In 1992, off San Diego, Fay put NZL20 - "The Red Sled" - to the test. She was the last of four yachts Fay had had built for the challenge. Small and dinghy-like, NZL20 raced with a radical tandem keel and rudder.

She also sported a bowsprit, which led to one of the bigger controversies in recent America's Cup history.

One of seven challengers from seven countries, New Zealand easily reached the Louis Vuitton Cup final and a date with Italy's Il Moro with Paul Cayard at the helm.

After racing to 4-1, Kiwi skippers Coutts and Rod Davis were on the receiving end of a string of Cayard protests over the use of the bowsprit.

Race five was annulled and the New Zealanders were forced to revise the manner in which the bowsprit was used. They failed to win another race and Il Moro won 5'4 but was then soundly beaten 5-1 by defender Bill Koch and America3.

Fay mounted the infamous "Big Boat" Challenge in 1988 in San Diego with KZ1 - a 90ft monohull - the maximum-sized sloop permitted by the Deed of Gift.

The challenge was little about sailing but plenty about solicitors as Dennis Conner fronted with a 60ft catamaran to win 2-0.

Fay took the case to the New York Supreme Court which ruled in his favour only to have that decision reversed on appeal.

A year earlier, New Zealand, for the first time, had lined up at an America's Cup regatta.

Headed by Fay and with Chris Dickson as skipper, KZ7 - "Kiwi Magic" - joined 12 other challengers from six countries in their bid to wrest the famous trophy from the Australians, who had taken it out of American hands for the first time in 1983.

Dickson's "Plastic Fantastic" lost only once - to Conner's Stars and Stripes - in compiling a 33-1 record in the round-robin.

In the Louis Vuitton semifinals, KZ7 beat French Kiss 4-1 but stumbled 1-4 in the final against Stars and Stripes, who went on to beat Australian defender Kookaburra 4-0 as Conner, the first skipper in history to lose the Cup, became the first to regain it.

With an incredible first-up record of 38-5, Kiwi yachtsmen had made their mark and whetted the appetite for more.

Eight years on, the pathfinding Fay-Dickson challenge was truly rewarded when Coutts and Team New Zealand brought the Cup home.