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It was a fairly un-sure Kiwi public that tuned in to the first race
of the second New Zealand defence of the world’s oldest sporting
trophy in February 2003.
Events following the successful 2000 regatta, when Russell Coutts and
several other key members of Team New Zealand had left to join a new
Swiss based team, gave the news media the fuel to predict the demise
of TNZ.
Veteran America’s Cup designer, technical genius and competitor,
Tom Schnackenberg teamed up with helmsman Dean Barker to lead Team
New Zealand toward 2003 and the new team settled down to the job of
new boat design and crew training.
Ernesto Bertarelli’s ALINGHI team from Switzerland, with Russell
Coutts on the helm, sailed a confident and improving series of races
to win the Louis Vuitton Cup and become the Challenger for the America’s
Cup.
On day one of the America’s Cup regatta 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 horror! NZL
82 began to take on water and in the prevailing seaway was unable to
control the rising tide within the yacht and continue sailing.
A broken mast in another race and a race lead handed to the Swiss due
to an apparent tactical error aided an easy ‘Cup win for the
Swiss team.
My painting “OVERSHADOWED” was conceived in a moment of
kindness toward all sailors and depicts the very efficient and fast
ALINGHI sliding across to weather of NZL 82. |
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© 2007 Jim Bolland – All rights reserved
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