Thursday 18 March 2021

Luna Eclipsed...


 ...was the clever headline in the NZ Herald the day after Team NZ beat the Italian boat Luna Rossa in what turned out to be the beginning of the end of the series. Yesterday we beat the Italians to score the seventh win, and so retained the America's Cup. The mere fact that I used 'we' in that sentence will alert regular 😀 readers to the massive domination of all other - and actually important - current affairs by this (spit) sport.

Actually, many people other than me have argued about its being a proper sport, seeing as how it's mostly about money - these crazy yachts that fly along above the water on their foils don't come cheap. But even I have to grudgingly concede that there is also plenty of real skill involved, as well as a refreshing element of chance - winds, and all that. So I was one of the 1.4 million TV/online viewers yesterday afternoon.

Throughout the series, Auckland's waterfront has been buzzing, the harbour has been chokka with boats, the sailors are our new heroes, and everyone, apart from the Italians (with their Aussie skipper), is now very pleased. If anyone else in the world was watching (unlikely, they do have other concerns) , they would surely have been shocked and discomfited by seeing the pre-Covid normality of 40,000 spectators packed closely together at the Viaduct, watching on the big screens and cheering. 

Hopefully, though, they would also have been impressed by the clever graphics onscreen and the general beauty of the setting - blue harbour, looming green bulk of Rangitoto, flotilla of 1600 small boats, city skyscrapers, enviable seaside suburbs. Good stuff. Oh, and the travel connection? Team NZ is sponsored by Emirates...

2 comments:

the queen said...

Speaking for the entire rest of the world, enjoy your sports. You have earned it.

TravelSkite said...

Thank you. We are genuinely trying not to be smug (or to tempt fate).

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