Once again, fate brings together those who heed the call...
Well, happy new year ladies & gents but I'm doing a blog about the preview of the 2021 America's Cup (The 1st major sporting event (Originally the summer Olympic Games was going to be held in Tokyo, Japan last year but due to the world wide corona virus pandemic, they changed it to this year) to be held since the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan (Won by the Springboks of South Africa who famously beat the nation that stunned the New Zealand All Blacks (Who were the defending world champions at the time) in the semifinal, England in the final which was a rematch of the 2007 Rugby World Cup final in Yokohama) & the 1st within NZ boundaries since the 2015 Cricket World Cup along with co-hosts Australia) this year (It's less than a fortnight away) as well as the history of the event but the wait is almost over as the 36th America's Cup (Which will feature foiling monohulls dubbed as AC75 therefore taking over from the AC50 multihull class which was used in the previous America's Cup in Bermuda in 2017) is finally here so let's have a look at the syndicates competing in this years campaign (There's only 3 challengers just like in 2013 from 3 different countries such as America, Italy & the UK that will compete in the Prada Cup with the winner of the challenger selection series will face Emirates Team New Zealand (Who are in our bid to win our 4th America's Cup as well as defending it for the 2nd time on home waters but will go into the defence of the Auld Mug as winners of the only America's Cup World Series event (Both events in Cagliari, Sardinia in Italy & Portsmouth in the UK had been cancelled due to the pandemic) in the city of sails in Auckland, New Zealand (Which features landmarks such as the famous Sky Tower (Which opened in 1997 that I've been there before way back in 2006) as well as the Auckland Harbour Bridge, Queen Street (Auckland's main street), the Auckland War Memorial Museum & of course, Eden Park (The main cricket & rugby union sports ground in Auckland which hosted both the 1987 & 2011 Rugby World Cup finals) although the Christmas race had been called off due to a lack of breeze a day after ETNZ wrapped up the America's Cup World Series (They needed a win against the challenger of record Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli (Always popular here in New Zealand since they 1st competed in the Louis Vuitton Cup in late 1999/early 2000) to be crowned champions of the ACWS) in the 36th America's Cup match):
Emirates Team New Zealand (New Zealand)*
Skipper: Glenn Ashby (Australia)
Helmsman: Peter Burling
American Magic (USA)
Skipper: Terry Hutchinson
Helmsman: Dean Barker (New Zealand)
Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli (Italy)
Skipper: Max Sirena
Helmsmen: Jimmy Spithill (Australia) & Francesco Bruni
And last but not least, INEOS Team UK (United Kingdom)
Skipper & helmsman: Sir Ben Ainslie
Tactician: Giles Scott
*: Defender
And it was in 1851 (The year that the America's Cup 1st began/started) that the Americans sailed against the Brits to claim the 1st America's Cup (It was known as the Hundred Guinea Cup) on British soil & held the longest winning streak in sports history for 132 years until the drought is broken by the hands of the Australians in 1983 in Newport, Rhode Island therefore completing the biggest boil over in America's Cup history but New Zealand's journey to the America's Cup 1st began in 1986/87 after the Australian success in 1983 at the Louis Vuitton Cup in Fremantle, Australia as the New Zealand challenge (Headed by Sir Michael Fay & skippered by Chris Dickson) when we competed in a fibreglass boat (Which shocked the big boys at that point) but we came so close of beating the Americans in the challenger selection series final only to lose out on inexperience before the Dennis Conner (Who is the only American to lose the America's Cup (1st it was Australia way back in 1983), then win the Auld Mug back & to lose it for the 2nd time (It was New Zealand's turn to follow Australia's 1983 success in 1995) led Stars & Stripes went on to regain control of the America's Cup from Australia before in 1988 that we unveiled the big boat only to lose out again (Due to a court battle) to the Americans who responded to the deed of the gift challenge with a catamaran but in 1992 our hopes of winning the Louis Vuitton Cup fell out in favour against the Italian syndicate Il Moro De Venezia (Who lost to America3 in the America's Cup match) because of the bowsprit which was deemed to be against the rules then 3 years later in 1995 (The year that my love affair of the America's Cup began as well as the same year that New Zealand rapper Che Fu was in the NZ rock band Supergroove, the Warriors entered the Australian rugby league competition & the late All Black Jonah Lomu tearing to shreds as a star performer & impact player during the 1995 Rugby World Cup in South Africa especially in the semifinal against England where he scored 4 tries (Including that 1st try that Lomu scored after he manhandled English player Mike Catt by running over the top of him whilst carrying the ball to score (That was the moment that New Zealand rugby commentator Keith Quinn when he famously said to our New Zealand viewers: ''LOMU! OH, OH!'') after our 1992 disaster dubbed as bowspritgate, our NZL 32 (Although we used NZL 38 when the Louis Vuitton challenger series had started before switching back to a different beast which is called NZL 32 in both the semifinals & final of the challenger selection series as well as the America's Cup match) boat painted in intimidating black managed to succeed of winning our 1st America's Cup for Team New Zealand (Led by both the late Sir Peter Blake (Who was murdered by Brazilian pirates way back in 2001 in Brazil whilst voyaging on his boat known as Tara or Seamaster a week after one of the members of the famous pop band which inspired to many generations, the Beatles of George Harrison (Who was the lead guitarist of the band) had passed away after a short battle with a terminal illness in Los Angeles, California in America (And it's only both Paul McCartney & Ringo Starr are the 2 surviving members of the Beatles (They lost the late John Lennon already due to an assassination by a man named Chapman & Harrison as I mentioned before) & Russell Coutts & famously said by the voice of yachting Peter 'PJ' Montgomery "The America's Cup is now New Zealand's cup!") dubbed as Black Magic against Dennis Conner's Stars & Stripes (Whose original boat was slower so they twisted the rules as they allowed to use a rival's boat of Young America to get up to speed) syndicate aboard the Young America Yacht in a 5 - 0 blackwash in San Diego, California after winning the Louis Vuitton Cup against oneAustralia (Who had their boat wrecked during the Louis Vuitton Cup round robin race that had bent like a banana so they switched to a slower boat for the rest of the campaign) by emulating Australia's success in 1983 before in 2000 (Same year that we managed to survive Y2K (I saw the old footage that Kiwis were preparing the great New Zealand barbecue), New Zealand rower Rob Waddell winning our country's only Olympic gold medal in Sydney, Australia & the All Blacks take victory in rugby's greatest ever test against the defending world champions at the time, the Wallabies at Stadium Australia (2000 summer Olympic Games main venue) in Sydney (The late Jonah Lomu scoring the try that has surely won the game for New Zealand) in front of 110,000 fans) that the Prada Luna Rossa Challenge (Spearheaded by the husband of Miuccia Prada (Granddaughter of the Prada fashion label founder Mario) & syndicate head, Patrizio Bertelli (He & Miuccia has a son who is a rally driver named Lorenzo) & led by Francesco de Angelis) of Italy went on to win the Louis Vuitton Cup against the Paul Cayard (Who was the helmsman in both Il Moro de Venezia which beat the New Zealand Challenge in the Louis Vuitton Cup final in 1992 when NZL 20 began to lose shape & Stars & Stripes aboard the Young America yacht who lost the America's Cup to Team New Zealand in 1995) led AmericaOne (Although the Americans were right out of the equation when America's Cup 2000 was the 1st in history without an American boat involved as New Zealand & Italy contested the Auld Mug (Which is in fact the oldest trophy in international sport) then it was Black Magic's time to shine as Team New Zealand aboard the NZL 60 yacht retained the America's Cup as they clean swept the Italians 5 - 0 in another blackwash on home waters to win our 2nd America's Cup title in the city of sails in Auckland in a repeat of 1995 (And we did go one better by defending it of course) as well as completing our 1st successful defence of the America's Cup outside America (As famously said by PJ "The America's Cup is still New Zealand's cup!") but both Russell Coutts & Brad Butterworth left Team New Zealand after defending the Auld Mug immediately in 2000 to join Swiss syndicate Alinghi (Also spearheaded by Swiss pharmaceuticals billionaire Ernesto Bertarelli) which won the America's Cup against Team New Zealand led by Dean Barker (Who was the backup helmsman for Team New Zealand when he sailed race 5 of America's Cup 2000 & took over from Coutts until he left in the aftermath of 2013 (One half of the Olympic silver & gold medalist Peter Burling replaced him & he had been with the syndicate ever since & Burling was one of the key signings for Emirates Team New Zealand in 2014 along with Blair Tuke (Brother of reporter Jesse Tuke) before joining Softbank Team Japan for the 2017 event & now found himself as the new American Magic helmsman for this years Prada Cup) in Auckland, New Zealand in 2003 & took the Auld Mug to Switzerland (But 1st they had to win the Louis Vuitton Cup against Oracle) then retained it in 2007 which was held in Valencia, Spain because Switzerland (One of 4 different countries to win the America's Cup (The only European nation to do so) along with the US, Australia & New Zealand) was a landlocked country before losing it to Oracle in the deed of the gift challenge in Valencia in 2010 then Oracle Team USA (Led by American billionaire Larry Ellison & Australian born skipper Jimmy Spithill (Who is now the helmsman aboard the Italian yacht of Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli (Back in the America's Cup challenger selection series fold after missing the 2017 event due to a reduction on boat size) along with Francesco Bruni) defended it against us in 2013 in the miracle of San Francisco in which they managed to complete a huge, miraculous comeback (Despite points being deducted before the start of the 2013 America's Cup match for breaches of technical rules used in the America's Cup World Series) after being 8 - 1 down 4 years before Emirates Team New Zealand (Led by both Grant Dalton & Australian born Glenn Ashby (Peter Burling was the helmsman who took over from American Magic's Dean Barker) which injected new blood went on to win our 3rd America's Cup in Bermuda in 2017 against Oracle Team USA (Who tried to make a fairy tale comeback during the last race of the last America's Cup but it wasn't to be) after 17 long years hence bringing the Auld Mug back home to New Zealand (As the legendary PJ Montgomery said when ETNZ triumphed in Bermuda in 2017 when he was doing his radio commentary ''Once again! The America's Cup is New Zealand's cup!'').
So that is my 381st blog of the year 2021 (MMXXI) & my 1st of this year.
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