Quotes of the Day - Louis Vuitton Final Race 5

by ACM on 7 Jun 2007 Grant Dalton, Managing Director, Emirates Team New Zealand, at the prize giving ceremony: I would just like to say congratulations to Luna Rossa - they were a fantastic team and gave us a very good contest. I also want to thank Louis Vuitton, ACM and Alinghi for such a fantastic venue in the city of Valencia that they have provided for us – the racing is amazing. My thanks also go to our main sponsors Emirates and Toyota, and Estrella Damm, without them we would not be here. But I want to say mainly to all of you, to all of our supporters here and in New Zealand, you are absolutely brilliant - we love you!'

Dean Barker, Helmsman, Emirates Team New Zealand, on winning the LVC Final:
'I’m just rapped! I cannot say enough about the guys on the boat - the whole team. It’s been a really tough journey the Round Robins didn’t start well, and the team has bounced back and grown as we have come through. The Semi Final was great on reflection we will look back and say that racing Desafio and dropping two races to them has actually made us a much stronger and better team. I don’t think anyone on the team ever dreamed or believed that we would get through the LVC Final against a team like Luna Rossa in the way we did - we never ever felt it was a comfortable series, it was always very tight and I think the first and last races showed exactly the type of racing we were geared up for.'

Dean Barker, Helmsman, Emirates Team New Zealand, on bruised team pride losing the Cup in 2003: 'Absolutely. It was a terrible loss for the country and the nice thing for us is being able to turn that round. We have been able to put together a very strong team - we are looking forward to the next step. There are fundamental differences in this team to the team that lost the Cup in 2003. The leadership of Grant Dalton and Kevin Shoebridge and what those guys have done is fundamental. They were dark days but key decisions put this team back together, hard work and the money to be able to push the ‘go’ button for the challenge. We have managed to step up a level for the final. The challenge is now to stay focused and take another step going into the America’s Cup.'

Ray Davies, Strategist, Emirates Team New Zealand on how they will use the next 17 days before the Cup: 'Our back-up is those 17 guys on our other boat – that is a very formidable team right there, they are the guys that are going to pull us through to challenging Alinghi in the next round. We will also consider sailing outside our team – you are always more competitive when you sail with another team and that is what we felt when sailing against Alinghi - it wasn’t like dancing with your sister any more! Our guys are good but it is always more competitive when up against another team.'

Terry Hutchinson, Tactician, Emirates Team New Zealand, on today’s match: 'I am glad that is over! That was the potentially the hardest race, the hardest couple of legs we have had in a long time - you can’t credit Luna Rossa enough for never going away! The game plan was to never give them an inch, and every opportunity we had was to stay between them and the mark. I think we did that, sometimes at the expense of a loss…Credit to our guys for keeping their composure. Crossing the finish line was a very relieved moment; you can’t underestimate the amount of effort that has gone into making this work.'

Terry Hutchinson, Tactician, Emirates Team New Zealand, on what they learnt from the Semi Finals: 'Desafio were very forthcoming with us about what they thought our strengths and weaknesses were, and gave us a lot of good insight on what they thought we were good at and poor at. With a different opinion from a high level you can gain a lot.'

James Spithill, Helmsman, Luna Rossa Challenge, on the team’s approach to the final race: 'We came out with the same attitude we have every day, trying to treat it like every other race, but the Kiwis just sailed a fantastic series, and really didn’t put a foot wrong all week.'

James Spithill, Helmsman, Luna Rossa Challenge, on looking a little faster today than previous matches: 'We were all hanging in better than we thought. It’s a credit to the team, because the boys have always been fighting, even down the last run they were just digging in, and every time I asked for a little bit more they rose to the challenge, but at the end of the day the Kiwis were just too strong.'

James Spithill, Helmsman, Luna Rossa Challenge, and his thoughts on losing 5-0:
'It’s a little surprising, I think both teams might have thought it would go the full nine races, but I think they had a week where everything went their way, they sailed extremely well and were very difficult to beat.'

Torben Grael, Tactician, Luna Rossa Challenge, on why the Kiwis won 5-0: 'I think they had a little edge on speed, maybe a little less today, and they had a perfect week where everything went their way. When the competition is at this level, and everything is going their way, making very few mistakes, it’s hard to beat them. Maybe that first race was very decisive. If it had gone the other way, mentally we would be stronger, they would be weaker, it could have gone a different way. A little mistake from them might have changed the outcome of the finals a little bit. But they did sail a very good series, and all we can do is congratulate them for their victory.'