May 19, 2026 • 10 mins
New Zealand is up against some quality competition in the first stage of the America’s Cup cycle.
This weekend sees the Italian island of Sardina host the first preliminary regatta, with eight boats set to take to the water.
Team NZ, Britian’s GB1, and Italian hosts Luna Rossa have sent both their main teams and a combined Women’s and Youth boat to compete, alongside crews from Switzerland’s Alinghi and French entry La Roche-Posay Racing.
Team NZ CEO Grant Dalton told Mike Hosking that it’s difficult to tell at this stage, but Luna Rossa is likely to be a force to be reckoned with.
He says the other teams are quite light, but the Italian team has the most milage in the water at the moment and plenty of talent.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
The America's Cup is back this weekend. The preliminary regatta
gets underway in Sardiny, heading towards Naples of next year.
Of course, we're in the AC forties team of four,
two helms, two trimmers, up to eight fleet races before
a final. We actually have two teams along with the
Brits and French. The Italians are the Swiss, the Australians
the Americans. So let's break it all down. Grant Dalton's
back with us from Sardinia.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Morning. Good morning to you, Mike.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
Is this shaping up? Well?
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Yeah, it is really from the forming of the thing
called America's Cup partnership that we spent last year doing.
We're now up to seven teams, which is the most
number of teams in twenty years. So America's Cup's very
healthy at the moment.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
Okay, the Australia said that hasn't got a lot of
coverage here. The Australian entry. Is that a big deal?
Do they know what they're doing? Are they quality?
Speaker 2 (00:45):
Yeah? They are quality because there's a lot of Australians
that have been in teams over the years and now
they're forming back to the Motherland. I actually questioned the
amount of pr that it had and talking to them,
they said that in Australia more coverage than the announcement
of the thirty two Olympics in Brisbane, which is pretty phenomenal.
(01:06):
And they had the America's Cup there. We sent it
over and the last time the Cup was there was
when it was taken away basically by Dennis Connor in
nineteen eighty seven. And they are a quality team with
guys like Spittle Slingsby and Glenn Ashby, and with the
boat that we hopefully are building for them, well we
are building. I hopefully we're building them a fast boat.
(01:28):
I expect them to be very good.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
What about the other teams? What do you know or
what do we know? The quality and the competition that's
coming our.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
Way, well, obviously Luna Ross is always high quality and
they're learning the ropes campaign by campaign, so I think
they're going to be a real force to be reckoned
with this time. They always are, but each time they
seem to get a little bit better. It's hard to tell.
With the other teams. They're quite late, the English probably
(01:56):
pretty good. The French, with our identical boat to us,
didn't have enough time last time, but they've certainly rectified
that this time. It's always difficult to tell at this point,
but I think when you look through that, probably Luna
Rossa has got the most mileage in the water at
the moment and plenty of talent.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
The level of interest on the prelims versus the Cup
itself next year, how do you engauge that?
Speaker 2 (02:23):
Well, you first you got to sort of say, what's
the level of interest in the America's Cup in Italy
And it's massive, something like fifty percent of all perversa,
all media. And the last America's Cup was consumed in
Italy and they had Luna Rossa made the finals against US,
that would even have been higher for anything. America's Cup
in this country has big thirteen times thirteen times they've
(02:47):
tried to win the America's Cup, so it's really sort
of ingrained in them the sport now. So the preliminary
regattas were the first one we have this weekend in
Sardinia will never be as big as the Cup itself,
but through the funding of the government for this regatta
and then a later regatta this year and then of
course to America's Cup next year, I think we're going
(03:09):
to see. But I know that in Naples and when
we raced here in twenty eleven there were half a
million people on the waterfront. So you can't underestimate a
level of interest. For the America's Cup in Italy, it's
Leona Ross's in the final against us, then the thing's
going to explode.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
Our two teams for these prellems. Does that show depth?
Is that like a red bull racing bulls type scenario
you've got going there?
Speaker 2 (03:35):
Yeah, that's exactly what you've got. But look, we just
yesterday the fantastic result of Sevenzi's and George Leie Rush
winning the forty niner Worlds, which is almost like a
rite of passage into a team New Zealand. We were
doing some numbers this morning of the number of World
(03:56):
forty nine championships we have in the team Nathan's won
or in Gensons one four, I think they had like
twelve world championships and now said the youngest world champion
and the forty nine ers who drives poor side? So
and you've got the youth and women's team as well. Yes,
(04:16):
it really is a racing bulls type environment and a
feeder these young guys are fast day. It's impressive. You're
really impressive. And there's a whole new enthusiasm that's generated
within the team from these well they're not kids, but
they they're almost kids, and that I can't speak enough
of their attitude and the way they go about their professionalism.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
Is that like once again the IF one thing where
you see these the Antonelli's, they have no fear. It's
something about age and age and stage.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
Yeah, yeah, they just don't care really, you know, buying
twenty five knots and they just send it. But they're
also because they grow up basically in a simulator. And
Antonelli is a good example. I mean, he can't have
done that much racing. He's only eighteen years old, so
he spent his life in a simulator. And our kids,
effectively twenty one twenty two are spending their whole time
(05:13):
on the simulator, and like an F one simulator, there
is a very real feel that it creates. The only
difference between the simulator and the real world is you
don't get wet, but they can take that straight away
onto the water.
Speaker 1 (05:27):
The simulators are I mean, you partially at it, but
they are real. So in other words, you can get
the it's you get the movement, vibe, the whole thing.
Or is it just like a computer screen.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
No, No, it's a full motion our full simulators motion Master.
So when they sit in the cockpits, which are identical
to their coppits, they're in the in the world and
the oculus goggles give them the full depth of perception
of everything around them when they turn their heads or whatever.
So they say, they just don't get wet. And if
(05:58):
the simulator is working correctly, as again with an F one,
you can test, so you can change a foil, run
and run around the course again on the simulator and
it will give you an answer. So you have to
have We started this whole simulator game in CupWorld and
back in twenty fifteen when we didn't have enough money
to build a boat, and then in twenty seventeen we won.
(06:20):
But now they're completely real to the real world and
all teams have them.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
Is this, once again, without extrapolating the F one analogy
too far, is this part of the blue Achook move
as well? Is that you know, you build management and
skills and stuff like that.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
Yeah, and you know, and Tookey was ready to make
the move into into I'm going to call it mentorship mentoring,
and it is a little bit mentoring. He's very Tookey's
really good and just pushes. He pushes, you know, pushes
the design team. Now, one of the things that the
younger guys still haven't you know, kind of got to
(06:54):
grips with, is this ability or how far they can
go to push a design team. And someone like Blair,
I mean he doesn't care in that respect. They know him,
he knows them and so he will push. So we
do need, you know, we still need the gray Hair
and I mean Tuke, he's in his mid thirties now
to keep that push on. So it's not just about
(07:15):
raw talent. You've got to have that engineering school to
push the design team as well.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
Having said that, how maxed out are the So you're
racing a AC forties in this preliminary part of it,
How maxed out are they? Or you are forever looking
for something new?
Speaker 2 (07:29):
No, well, they are all one design so that all
teams have exactly the same boat. I'm trying to sort
of put in perspective how I think we'll go in
the weekend, and I a top three would be I
think a good result. Of course you want to want it,
and we'll try to. But we've been starting the seventy five,
the big boat, the boat that will race in the
Cup next year, and we haven't really been doing that
(07:51):
much work in the forties, whereas these other teams haven't
been starting the seventy five. They've only been in their
ac forties. So sort of going to get a bit
of expectation into it, because in the end it's about
the America's Cup next year.
Speaker 1 (08:04):
How is the seventy five? Is that being? What are
you doing with that?
Speaker 2 (08:08):
But it's still at home and we'll be back to it,
you know, in a few weeks time. It's just under
constant development. I mean they never sit still. It We've
got about I'm going to say, forty guys and girls
up here, but at home there's another fifty working on
the seventy five, so that as soon as we get back,
the guys get back on that and they're back into testing.
(08:30):
So it never stops the seventy five. Just like you
know what, they had the gap in the formula one
time when they couldn't race in the Middle East, and
suddenly McLaren jumps and that's it's just like that, I
know the analogy, I know you, I know you love
you one and so do I. But there is so
much closer to analogies now than they ever used to be.
Speaker 1 (08:52):
The information then, so with your seven teams and your
double teams and your development and two and all that
sort of stuff, it feels I get the sense that
the America's Cup is in good health. Is that fair
or not?
Speaker 2 (09:04):
No, it's completely fair. If you'd asked me that question
a year ago, it probably did. It wasn't healthy. And
in some ways in this I know, I don't mean
this to sound arrogant, we were becoming a bit of
our own success, was becoming a bit of our own
problem because the villionaires, we're getting a little bit tired
of blowing one hundred and fifty million euros try and
(09:25):
beat us, and they're getting beaten, and so we had
to do something. The America's Cup, the last sport in
the world that hasn't been franchised an NBA is the
best example. So what you have now, it's not like
stylegp where the league still owns everything. In this partnership agreement,
(09:45):
the teams own it, so as the value of the
property grows, so the value in the teams grow exactly
like an NBA, and in fact it's the NBA that
we used as the model.
Speaker 1 (09:56):
Interesting, all right, mate, listen good to catch up with
you go well this week and Grant Dalton to New
Zealand
Speaker 2 (10:00):
Head For more from the mic Asking Breakfast, Listen live
to News Talks at B from six am weekdays, or
follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.
The America's Cup is back this weekend. The preliminary regatta
gets underway in Sardiny, heading towards Naples of next year.
Of course, we're in the AC forties team of four,
two helms, two trimmers, up to eight fleet races before
a final. We actually have two teams along with the
Brits and French. The Italians are the Swiss, the Australians
the Americans. So let's break it all down. Grant Dalton's
back with us from Sardinia.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Morning. Good morning to you, Mike.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
Is this shaping up? Well?
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Yeah, it is really from the forming of the thing
called America's Cup partnership that we spent last year doing.
We're now up to seven teams, which is the most
number of teams in twenty years. So America's Cup's very
healthy at the moment.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
Okay, the Australia said that hasn't got a lot of
coverage here. The Australian entry. Is that a big deal?
Do they know what they're doing? Are they quality?
Speaker 2 (00:45):
Yeah? They are quality because there's a lot of Australians
that have been in teams over the years and now
they're forming back to the Motherland. I actually questioned the
amount of pr that it had and talking to them,
they said that in Australia more coverage than the announcement
of the thirty two Olympics in Brisbane, which is pretty phenomenal.
(01:06):
And they had the America's Cup there. We sent it
over and the last time the Cup was there was
when it was taken away basically by Dennis Connor in
nineteen eighty seven. And they are a quality team with
guys like Spittle Slingsby and Glenn Ashby, and with the
boat that we hopefully are building for them, well we
are building. I hopefully we're building them a fast boat.
(01:28):
I expect them to be very good.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
What about the other teams? What do you know or
what do we know? The quality and the competition that's
coming our.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
Way, well, obviously Luna Ross is always high quality and
they're learning the ropes campaign by campaign, so I think
they're going to be a real force to be reckoned
with this time. They always are, but each time they
seem to get a little bit better. It's hard to tell.
With the other teams. They're quite late, the English probably
(01:56):
pretty good. The French, with our identical boat to us,
didn't have enough time last time, but they've certainly rectified
that this time. It's always difficult to tell at this point,
but I think when you look through that, probably Luna
Rossa has got the most mileage in the water at
the moment and plenty of talent.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
The level of interest on the prelims versus the Cup
itself next year, how do you engauge that?
Speaker 2 (02:23):
Well, you first you got to sort of say, what's
the level of interest in the America's Cup in Italy
And it's massive, something like fifty percent of all perversa,
all media. And the last America's Cup was consumed in
Italy and they had Luna Rossa made the finals against US,
that would even have been higher for anything. America's Cup
in this country has big thirteen times thirteen times they've
(02:47):
tried to win the America's Cup, so it's really sort
of ingrained in them the sport now. So the preliminary
regattas were the first one we have this weekend in
Sardinia will never be as big as the Cup itself,
but through the funding of the government for this regatta
and then a later regatta this year and then of
course to America's Cup next year, I think we're going
(03:09):
to see. But I know that in Naples and when
we raced here in twenty eleven there were half a
million people on the waterfront. So you can't underestimate a
level of interest. For the America's Cup in Italy, it's
Leona Ross's in the final against us, then the thing's
going to explode.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
Our two teams for these prellems. Does that show depth?
Is that like a red bull racing bulls type scenario
you've got going there?
Speaker 2 (03:35):
Yeah, that's exactly what you've got. But look, we just
yesterday the fantastic result of Sevenzi's and George Leie Rush
winning the forty niner Worlds, which is almost like a
rite of passage into a team New Zealand. We were
doing some numbers this morning of the number of World
(03:56):
forty nine championships we have in the team Nathan's won
or in Gensons one four, I think they had like
twelve world championships and now said the youngest world champion
and the forty nine ers who drives poor side? So
and you've got the youth and women's team as well. Yes,
(04:16):
it really is a racing bulls type environment and a
feeder these young guys are fast day. It's impressive. You're
really impressive. And there's a whole new enthusiasm that's generated
within the team from these well they're not kids, but
they they're almost kids, and that I can't speak enough
of their attitude and the way they go about their professionalism.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
Is that like once again the IF one thing where
you see these the Antonelli's, they have no fear. It's
something about age and age and stage.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
Yeah, yeah, they just don't care really, you know, buying
twenty five knots and they just send it. But they're
also because they grow up basically in a simulator. And
Antonelli is a good example. I mean, he can't have
done that much racing. He's only eighteen years old, so
he spent his life in a simulator. And our kids,
effectively twenty one twenty two are spending their whole time
(05:13):
on the simulator, and like an F one simulator, there
is a very real feel that it creates. The only
difference between the simulator and the real world is you
don't get wet, but they can take that straight away
onto the water.
Speaker 1 (05:27):
The simulators are I mean, you partially at it, but
they are real. So in other words, you can get
the it's you get the movement, vibe, the whole thing.
Or is it just like a computer screen.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
No, No, it's a full motion our full simulators motion Master.
So when they sit in the cockpits, which are identical
to their coppits, they're in the in the world and
the oculus goggles give them the full depth of perception
of everything around them when they turn their heads or whatever.
So they say, they just don't get wet. And if
(05:58):
the simulator is working correctly, as again with an F one,
you can test, so you can change a foil, run
and run around the course again on the simulator and
it will give you an answer. So you have to
have We started this whole simulator game in CupWorld and
back in twenty fifteen when we didn't have enough money
to build a boat, and then in twenty seventeen we won.
(06:20):
But now they're completely real to the real world and
all teams have them.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
Is this, once again, without extrapolating the F one analogy
too far, is this part of the blue Achook move
as well? Is that you know, you build management and
skills and stuff like that.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
Yeah, and you know, and Tookey was ready to make
the move into into I'm going to call it mentorship mentoring,
and it is a little bit mentoring. He's very Tookey's
really good and just pushes. He pushes, you know, pushes
the design team. Now, one of the things that the
younger guys still haven't you know, kind of got to
(06:54):
grips with, is this ability or how far they can
go to push a design team. And someone like Blair,
I mean he doesn't care in that respect. They know him,
he knows them and so he will push. So we
do need, you know, we still need the gray Hair
and I mean Tuke, he's in his mid thirties now
to keep that push on. So it's not just about
(07:15):
raw talent. You've got to have that engineering school to
push the design team as well.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
Having said that, how maxed out are the So you're
racing a AC forties in this preliminary part of it,
How maxed out are they? Or you are forever looking
for something new?
Speaker 2 (07:29):
No, well, they are all one design so that all
teams have exactly the same boat. I'm trying to sort
of put in perspective how I think we'll go in
the weekend, and I a top three would be I
think a good result. Of course you want to want it,
and we'll try to. But we've been starting the seventy five,
the big boat, the boat that will race in the
Cup next year, and we haven't really been doing that
(07:51):
much work in the forties, whereas these other teams haven't
been starting the seventy five. They've only been in their
ac forties. So sort of going to get a bit
of expectation into it, because in the end it's about
the America's Cup next year.
Speaker 1 (08:04):
How is the seventy five? Is that being? What are
you doing with that?
Speaker 2 (08:08):
But it's still at home and we'll be back to it,
you know, in a few weeks time. It's just under
constant development. I mean they never sit still. It We've
got about I'm going to say, forty guys and girls
up here, but at home there's another fifty working on
the seventy five, so that as soon as we get back,
the guys get back on that and they're back into testing.
(08:30):
So it never stops the seventy five. Just like you
know what, they had the gap in the formula one
time when they couldn't race in the Middle East, and
suddenly McLaren jumps and that's it's just like that, I
know the analogy, I know you, I know you love
you one and so do I. But there is so
much closer to analogies now than they ever used to be.
Speaker 1 (08:52):
The information then, so with your seven teams and your
double teams and your development and two and all that
sort of stuff, it feels I get the sense that
the America's Cup is in good health. Is that fair
or not?
Speaker 2 (09:04):
No, it's completely fair. If you'd asked me that question
a year ago, it probably did. It wasn't healthy. And
in some ways in this I know, I don't mean
this to sound arrogant, we were becoming a bit of
our own success, was becoming a bit of our own
problem because the villionaires, we're getting a little bit tired
of blowing one hundred and fifty million euros try and
(09:25):
beat us, and they're getting beaten, and so we had
to do something. The America's Cup, the last sport in
the world that hasn't been franchised an NBA is the
best example. So what you have now, it's not like
stylegp where the league still owns everything. In this partnership agreement,
(09:45):
the teams own it, so as the value of the
property grows, so the value in the teams grow exactly
like an NBA, and in fact it's the NBA that
we used as the model.
Speaker 1 (09:56):
Interesting, all right, mate, listen good to catch up with
you go well this week and Grant Dalton to New
Zealand
Speaker 2 (10:00):
Head For more from the mic Asking Breakfast, Listen live
to News Talks at B from six am weekdays, or
follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.
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