Americas Cup
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Anybody interested in this now that the traitors stole government money and ran away offshore with it?
Team Treason won in Jeddah ahead of Team Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli (to be called LRPP in future) who basically crashed (into the water they were supposed to be flying above). The previous Team Traitor (Alinghi) came in third. (I actually don't care that much about TNZ winning anymore which is a shame I like to see Kiwis doing well but even if they win it will be somewhere else so - meh).
Regardless of the turncoat nature of the AC, those boats are great to watch. This was the AC 45s with the next lot being the bigger AC75 which will be up to %30 faster apparently. Very cool machines.
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@Snowy i still love it, unfortunately i think theyve shown they get more challengers and therefor more money and sponsorship by taking it overseas, maybe if they can get the interest back up they might be able to bring every other one back to NZ (assuming we win)
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@Kiwiwomble I will watch it (obviously, I just did) but TNZ were going to get $99m from NZ (Government and AKL council) and, as I understand it, they ended up with $112m, not the expected $200m for taking it overseas. That doesn't seem like a huge financial difference to me to keep the goodwill of the country which they are named after. Now they could just call it team Emirates and host it in Dubai. There will be other TNZ sponsors, and other complications, I'm sure, but there really is no connection to NZ anymore other than employing a few Kiwi sailors and all of the teams do that. The connection to NZ was that it was held here, but no longer unfortunately. As you say maybe every second one but I wouldn't trust them to do that now.
I'd like LRPP to win, then I could go to Italy to watch it which sounds like fun. They might at least hold it there. Maybe...if someone didn't make them a better offer.
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@Snowy to each their own, im not going to die on a hill defending them as i would have obviously rather they had kept it in NZ
but none of our other "national teams", and i word it like that because i know theyre not really but rather our only one even close, get to host their whole tournament in NZ if they win and i still support them, they still do alot/all of their engineering and boat building in NZ and are mostly a NZ team, was the new rules only a couple from overseas?
I'll keep backing them the same way i back a F1 (Mclaren)....find some reason to follow them and then keep doing it
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Team Treason (thanks @Snowy) really shat on Auckland City from a great height. They always knew the city would need two regattas to break even. The second became even more critical once Covid struck and we didn't get the budgetted foreign visitors.
I'm disappointed RNZYS didn't tell them to fuck off. I guess that would have ended in expensive litigation.
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There is a little bit of NZ-ness in it, the nationality rules have actually been tightened up
It has been agreed a new crew nationality rule will require 100% of race crews to either be a passport holder of the country the team's yacht club as at 19 March 2021 or to have been physically present in that country for two of the previous three years prior to 18 March 2021
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@Bovidae said in Americas Cup:
NZ have just swapped one Aussie (Glenn Ashby) for another (Nathan Outteridge) in their team.
Outeridge is a gun, we've definitely got the best sailing team with the dual tactician option in play. Just hope our boat performs once again when we get to the big show in October next year.
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@Kiwiwomble Fair enough. I have no issue the sailors themselves but as an organisation they suck. Can't really compare them to other sports teams as whilst our other teams get government spending Team Treason took a lot more under an understanding that @dogmeat mentions.
Generally I would be the same as you but it was all very cynical and disingenuous the way it went down.
I support McLaren (or any team with a Kiwi) as a rule too. Mclaren in particular as I worked in his garage / petrol station when I was a kid. He was long gone but it still had his name.
@Machpants Yeah I like that bit, at least some token tribalism in it.
@Bovidae Ashby still sort of with Emirates. He was a bit of a cat specialist and he's off to have a crack at world speed record (sailing - 65.45 knots). TNZ are involved in that as well. He set a new world record of 225.58kph in the land yacht Horonuku. Another awesome machine.:
Outteridge is sail GP (now Switzerland with Ashby as well). Experienced, so Emirates probably don't lose much. Actually, I shouldn't call TNZ Emirates because they now sponsor GB in Sail GP. Sailing is just so bloody mercenary! Obvious reasons I know.
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Saudi Arabia in running to host America’s Cup - NZ Herald
Grant Dalton dismisses concerns about ‘sportswashing’.
I hope they sink.
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@tim Herald paywall, but I gather that Dalton is deciding where the next one will be held before we have won it? Probably hasn't even considered NZ.
Rocket Lab is largely a US company now but at least if they are still launching from NZ. I wonder what restrictions the government put on them regarding taking their investment and fucking off with it like TNZ?
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@Machpants said in Americas Cup:
There is a little bit of NZ-ness in it, the nationality rules have actually been tightened up
It has been agreed a new crew nationality rule will require 100% of race crews to either be a passport holder of the country the team's yacht club as at 19 March 2021 or to have been physically present in that country for two of the previous three years prior to 18 March 2021
That's easily addressed given the crews will be an integral part of development over that period anyway.
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@Snowy said in Americas Cup:
Anybody interested in this now that the traitors stole government money and ran away offshore with it?
So far I've resisted clicking on all news items about it except this thread. Team Treason sums up the whole circus that the "NZ" syndicate has become nicely...
