America's Cup: "It was like a fairy tale"

David lost the battle against Goliath. At the end of the longest Cup duel in history (19 days), the defenders' machinery ran perfectly and almost made us forget that the challengers had once dominated their opponents in this regatta with eight match points.

Although Dean Barker and his Kiwis won the start of the 19th and final race on Wednesday with almost perfect timing, reached the first mark ahead of the Americans, Oracle once again hit the precipice of a nosedive and Team New Zealand still led at the second buoy, from the start of the final race it seemed only a matter of time before the unleashed US catamaran would unleash its new irresistible speed potential again. And it did.

On the wind, heading for mark three, the time had come. The American team raced across the course, often five or six knots faster than the New Zealanders. With their blunt centreboard, they could only watch powerlessly as the defenders sailed towards triumph. The "Aotearoa", so fast at the beginning of the duel, had not kept up with the quantum leap of the US boat. And the Cup ended as usual. As Russell Coutts' friend and tactician Brad Butterworth put it back in 2003: "The America's Cup is always won by the fastest boat." This was also confirmed by regatta director Iain Murray, who experienced all the highs and lows of his job and concluded: "It was like a fairy tale. The regatta felt like an unrealistic script."

Not even at the final press conference did the American team really want to talk about what exactly had turned their catamaran from an astonishingly inferior boat into an astonishingly superior one in the space of a week. Both racing team owner Larry Ellison and skipper James Spithill avoided the question of what had happened to the boat on and after 13 September by repeatedly giving general compliments to every conceivable department in their team.

In the end, however, Larry Ellison did manage to elicit a reference to CEO Russell Coutts, who was absent from the winners' press conference: "He is our leader. He said that it makes no sense for us to be slower downwind. He made the announcement: Lower and faster instead of higher and slower." Ellison did not reveal any essential information about individual modifications, but did answer the question about the future of the actual conductor of this 34th Cup edition and the engine behind the team's success: "Russell Coutts has a job in my team for as long as he wants. He set the tone in all areas. He will never be lost to the America's Cup."

In terms of sailing, the Americans and New Zealanders were often evenly matched in this 34th edition of the Cup. Oracle's helmsman James Spithill made the more furious starts, but Dean Barker was also often able to score points. He just did it less conspicuously. In the end, he ran out of opportunities to shine with the inferior "Aotearoa". The fact that he was still able to operate at ball level with the US team at all was a great achievement. He knew after the 18th race, as he said later, that it would be more than difficult to snatch the jug from the Americans. New Zealand's Prime Minister John Key said: "I feel very sorry for the team. They have worked not just weeks, not just months, but years on this campaign. The Oracle syndicate had an enormous amount of money behind them and we are a small country from very far away. We are probably very good at sailing, but we had to compete against a big chequebook."

Despite many concerns about the continued existence of his country's most famous sports team, Key told the New Zealand Herald: "We want to sit down and have a discussion with the team. But you have to recognise that New Zealand has raised its profile in recent weeks, both in the Louis Vuitton Cup and the America's Cup." The homepage of New Zealand's leading daily newspaper was adorned with a large black box with white lettering on Thursday: "Emirates Team New Zealand. You fought hard and we are proud of you. The 'New Zealand Herald'." What particularly pains the New Zealanders is the trajectory of their Cup campaign: they led the design competition long before the final, were the first in the water with their catamaran and the first on the foils. In the end, they lacked the money in the arms race with a financially far superior opponent.

The victorious Oracle helmsman Jimmy Spithill rose to third place in the all-time list of Cup helmsmen with 13:8 victories in his two Cup appearances in 2010 and 2013 behind Russell Coutts (14:0) and Dennis Conner (13:10; 17:10 including his role as starting helmsman of the "Courageous" in 1974). Dean Barker's Cup journey so far, on the other hand, has been more of a rollercoaster. The 41-year-old father of four from Auckland is fifth on the all-time list with a record of 11-21 wins after four Cup appearances. "I've had some traumatic moments, but also some dream moments," said Barker in San Francisco. From his first victory in the last race in the Kiwis' Cup triumph in 2000 (when Russell Coutts gave him the helm at the end) to the successful defence in 2000 and the mast break and defeat of the New Zealand yacht against Alinghi in 2003 to this longest America's Cup duel in history, Dean Barker has always served his nation with great respect, great skill and, in defeat, as an exemplary fair sportsman.

Barker's future is now as uncertain as that of his team. Because it is not clear whether the small Pacific state of New Zealand can afford another investment of around 20 million euros in the country's most popular sports team, which was unable to fulfil its mission: The pitcher is not coming back to Auckland for the time being. Emirates Team New Zealand may also have lost its strongest driving force. Team boss Grant Dalton quietly let it be known that his time may have come. His departure would be a huge loss for the team.

Even with a view to the 35th edition of the Cup, much remained unclear at first. There is agreement on all sides that more nations are needed. The old and new Cup defenders are also striving for this. They did not reveal how on the evening after their triumph. Larry Ellison said: "This America's Cup has changed the sport of sailing forever. It was the most beautiful regatta I have ever seen on the water. We have tried to make the Cup more attractive to the sailing public and accessible to a wide television audience. But it's also no secret that it was expensive. We want to change that, because the America's Cup needs more nations again."

The name of the new Challenger of Record, which has already been announced, remains unclear. It is likely to be Torbjörn Tornquist's racing team Artemis, as the Americans and the Swedes have a lot in common, including the close friendship between Oracle's successful tactician Ben Ainslie and Artemis team manager Iain Percy. On the evening of the final day, it was Ainslie who once again remembered his late friend Bart Simpson, who lost his life in a training accident on 9 May. The four-time Olympic champion said: "I am thinking of Andrew Simpson today. He was an incredible sailor, person and father. It's sad for all of us that he can no longer be with us. My thoughts are with him. He would have loved this. He lived for the sport of sailing."

The death of the British Olympic star boat champion overshadowed the 34th America's Cup. Too few participants, disputes with the host city of San Francisco, low spectator interest in the challenger round and finally a cheating scandal, as a result of which two points were deducted from the defenders in the run-up to the Cup duel, had made for never-ending negative headlines. The fact that the America's Cup ultimately sparked sparks has partially reconciled many critics. On Wednesday evening, Larry Ellison even cheerfully countered the question of possible irregular changes to the speedy US catamaran: "The surveyors checked the boat every day and saw it from the inside."

For the time being, the men of the Cup have kept it to themselves as to which boats and in which area the 35th edition of the Cup will be held. It is well known that Larry Ellison and the city of San Francisco have not developed a love affair, despite mutual praise on the day of the winners. According to Larry Ellison, there was a simple reason why Oracle's team conductor Russell Coutts did not attend the press conference. The 51-year-old five-time America's Cup winner wanted to let the current sailors take centre stage. Whether that was really the only reason for his conspicuous absence remains to be seen. Coutts has always been good for Cup surprises. However, his disappointed compatriots will hardly be comforted by the fact that Sir Coutts, at least a famous Kiwi, was allowed to lay his hands on the ornate silver jug on Wednesday evening.