America's Cup: 25 years ago: when the America's Cup became "New Zealand's Cup"

"The America's Cup is now New Zealand's Cup!" With this legendary sentence, sports reporting legend Peter Montgomery commented on Team New Zealand's first triumph in the America's Cup on 13 May 1995. The Kiwi coup was achieved a quarter of a century ago when the sailing team on the New Zealand "Black Magic" (NZL 32) dethroned America's Cup king Dennis Conner and his Stars and Stripes team in the waters off San Diego after two decades of Cup dominance. Although Conner had lost the Cup once in between (1983), he was able to bring the silverware of his dreams back to the USA in 1987.

The Kiwis around their helmsman Russell Coutts and team boss Sir Peter Blake dismantled Conner's US team 25 years ago with a flawless 5-0 series, during which the nation at home fell into a collective frenzy of joy. For almost ten years, little New Zealand had been battling with the American and other Cup giants for the America's Cup. The Oceania team wrote the new Cup chapter at the fourth attempt with the smallest budget, but the better sailors and the faster boat. The team boss at the time, Sir Peter Blake, who was murdered by pirates six years later in 2001 during an expedition in the Amazon Delta, said: "We made the impossible possible. Therein lies the magic of this success."

Peter Blake's red socks became a lucky charm symbol for New Zealand's rise to become the new sailing superpower. The charismatic and humorous Blake, who had achieved world fame as a circumnavigator before his America's Cup stint, always wore the socks given to him by his wife Pippa when sailing. However, because he was not on board during one of the few defeats in the Cup preliminary round, the team never let Blake or the socks ashore again during the 29th America's Cup match in 1995. Since then, New Zealanders have worn red socks throughout the country in Cup times as a sign of solidarity. "If you ask if we're superstitious, the answer is yes," Blake once said in a TV interview with a roguish smile.

Eleven days after their historic victory in 1995, the team landed in Auckland on charter plane NZ1032. The America's Cup, which was snatched from America, had travelled halfway around the world in its own first-class seat - a tradition ever since. While still on the tarmac, fire engines with water fountains created a rainbow festival, while the morning news broadcast the arrival of the Cup heroes nationwide. This was followed by the biggest victory party in New Zealand's history to date. "Nothing in the world could have prepared us for this reception," said Peter Blake. 350,000 cheering people - more than a third of Auckland's population - celebrated the Cup heroes in the streets of the city alone before the triumphal journey across the country began.

Back then, the Kiwis had no idea what ups and downs they would have to go through over the next 25 years. This was followed by the successful defence of the Cup in Auckland at the turn of the millennium. Then came the break: New Zealand's best sailors around figurehead Russell Coutts were poached by billionaire Ernesto Bertarelli in uncertain financial times and faced brutal hostility in their own country as part of the "Loyal Campaign". But they won the America's Cup for Switzerland in 2003 and took the "bottomless jug" from their native Auckland to Europe. This was followed by the Kiwis' 2007 defeat to Alinghi in Valencia and the "dishonour of San Francisco" in the 34th America's Cup in 2013, when Emirates Team New Zealand led 8:1 in the Cup duel with Larry Ellison's Oracle Team USA and then lost 8:9. However, even this fiasco could not break the will of the New Zealanders and their team boss Grant Dalton. In 2017, they reclaimed the ornate silver jug off Bermuda with supersailor and 49er Olympic champion Peter Burling at the helm and pioneering technology on the catamaran "Aotearoa" (Land of the Long White Cloud).

While the trophy can currently be admired in its showroom at the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron, the next Cup cycle is already underway. In the Prada Cup, the three challengers American Magic with skipper Terry Hutchinson, Sir Ben Ainslie's Ineos Team UK and Patrizio Bertelli's Luna Rosaa Prada Pirelli will compete from 15 January to 22 February 2021 in the Hauraki Gulf off Auckland for the right to challenge New Zealand in the 36th America's Cup duel (6 to 21 March). Whether the schedule can be maintained during the coronavirus pandemic, which has already seen the European pre-regattas in Sardinia and Portsmouth fall victim, remains uncertain for the time being. New Zealand's team boss Grant Dalton told YACHT online: "We are in the fortunate position in New Zealand that we have managed the pandemic quite effectively as a country so far. From an event perspective, it is clear that all stakeholders are motivated and committed to organising the America's Cup next summer.(Ed.: Winter/Spring in Europe) to play out." The red socks will definitely be part of the game. "They are a gift," says Dalton, "that keeps on giving. They have risen rocket-like to become an almost iconic Kiwi symbol and are one of the things that will always be there as long as there is a New Zealand team in the America's Cup."