Hamilton, Bermuda: Peter Burling emerged as a sailing superstar as he coolly helmed New Zealand to victory in the 35th America’s Cup.
Not that Burling himself would ever say so.
“We’re just blown away by what we’ve been able to achieve out here today,” Burling said. “I think for ourselves it’s just sinking in.
“As a Kiwi, growing up in New Zealand racing for the America’s Cup and winning the America’s Cup and then also losing the America’s Cup, to be able to come here to Bermuda and be part of an incredibly special team and bring that trophy back home that’s something that I’ll remember for the rest of my life.”
Burling, 26, supplanted Team USA skipper Jimmy Spithill as the youngest to helm an America’s Cup winner.
Spithill was 30 when he steered Oracle to victory in 2010 and presided over the USA’s fightback from 1-8 down to a 9-8 triumph in 2013.
Four years ago in San Francisco, Burling was guiding New Zealand to victory in the inaugural Youth America’s Cup.
But that year Team New Zealand chief Grant Dalton was already eyeing Burling as a likely candidate for another America’s Cup campaign.
Despite his youth, Burling was on a steep career trajectory that had seen him win 420 class world titles as a teenager in 2006 and 2007.
He and Blair Tuke teamed for the first of four straight 49er world titles in 2013 and added Olympic gold to their resume in Rio last year.
But Burling was an America’s Cup neophyte going up against a match racing master in Spithill.
He more than held his own, shaking off a frightening capsize in challenger racing to take the battle to Spithill with preternatural calm.
Over and over again he out-manoeuvred Spithill in the start box, then quietly stung Spithill in the post-race press conferences.
At past Cups, the press conferences were for skippers. This time around the defenders stipulated the helmsmen hold court — sparking some to suggest they hoped to pile the pressure on Burling.
Burling didn’t flinch, neutralising the heat of the spotlight by invoking his crew and teammates.
“We enjoy those big races. It’s something that all through a yachting career to win events you’ve got to be able to win events under pressure.
“It was a pretty special bunch we had here.”
Dalton said after the win that Team NZ had to nurse their boat through the entire regatta after suffering major damage to daggerboards on the first day of racing in the challenger series.
“We found some pretty serious structural issues with the daggerboards, because they had been taken so far out of range that they were basically letting go,” he said.
The components could have failed at any time, added Dalton. “Every time we do a tack or a gybe or whatever, I’ve just been going ‘hold on, hold on’ and they have.”
The race that delivered the 7-1 win in Bermuda started before dawn on a chilly Wellington morning for sailing enthusiasts packed into the Royal Port Nicholson Yacht Club.
Even though the New Zealanders were on match point and close to a crushing win, there was an undercurrent of anxiety as bleary-eyed patrons sipped coffee and tucked into cooked breakfasts.
“It’s never a done deal,” Will Eastman said just before the race was screened on a giant TV.
