Kiwis are hacked off. Even enthusiasts of the America’s Cup have strong opinions on whether the country should be spending large sums of money on hosting a sport for some of the wealthiest people in the world.

It’s a fair point, so some are pleased the country isn’t going to host the 38th America’s Cup. Having just spent a month in Auckland it’s clear to me that using taxpayers money to help run a Cup project is a contentious topic.

Businesses are being hit hard, the cost of living is going up and there are big financial pressures on a government that knows it has some serious domestic issues to tackle. It’s no different to many other countries where there’s real apprehension about where the world is heading.

Yet, the thing that really riles many Kiwis is the fact they feel they’ve been denied the opportunity to reap the rewards of a phenomenal and long-term sporting success. Theirs is a track record which makes them the most successful America’s Cup team in the modern age and the second most successful country ever.

New Zealand has won the Cup five times, yet only hosted it three times – and only twice have they been able to enjoy the commercial benefits (the global pandemic pulled the rug from under their feet in 2020/21, which was seriously bad luck). ‘What more do we have to do?’ they ask.

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The week in which the news broke that Auckland would not be hosting the next Cup was a busy one. Ahead of that bombshell came the announcement that the city would be a stopover in the 2027 Ocean Race. This is big for both the event and for the city.

If there’s one other area of the sport in which New Zealand has left a huge mark, it’s in this round the world race. A second announcement days later confirmed a new Kiwi Ocean Race team led by indefatigable Vendée Globe skipper Conrad Colman.

The Kiwi legacy in the Whitbread/Volvo/Ocean Race harks back to the dominant success of Steinlager 2 in 1989/90. I was able to join Colman aboard the mighty red Maxi, sailing Steinlager up the coast to meet a group of 25 teenagers (most of them non-sailors), who were on a 21-day outward bound-style course.

They’d hiked for several days to get to a beach, from where they swam out to the anchored boat before spending five days offshore. An incredible adventure for them – and seeing one of the most famous boats in the history of ocean racing being used for this while maintaining the spirit and layout of an ocean racer was a great illustration to me of what legacy is all about.

Bringing The Ocean Race back to a city that has hosted a stopover 10 times in almost 50 years will be a boost for sure, and having a local team to support will help too.

SailGP drew decent crowds for the Auckland 2025 event. Photo: Bob Martin for SailGP

Following on from the sold-out SailGP event earlier this year and the prospect of its return next year, the City of Sails will have two major events passing through. Both cost considerably less than hosting the Cup – the government is said to have ‘invested up to NZ$4million’ on hosting The Ocean Race (by comparison, the Cup estimate was NZ$40million).

The flip side is that neither will give the same financial return. It’s difficult to imagine supporters flying from Europe for the weekend to watch quick-fire SailGP racing from the stands or wait for Ocean Race boats to arrive.

Whilst in town I had a tour of Southern Spars’ facility – along with a nose aboard the world’s biggest privately owned ketch, Aquijo, which has two of Southern’s 92m (300ft) masts. Both were great illustrations of how big an influence the Cup has on New Zealand’s marine industry.

Southern Spars was born out of the Cup and has since become the biggest carbon mast manufacturer in the world. Taking Auckland off the table, while not surprising, will have implications.

While I’d love the Cup to return to this amazing sailing venue for AC38, in the current climate it’s probably the right decision. The Kiwis are a deeply resourceful bunch; as small, sparsely populated islands at the bottom of the world they’ve needed to be and this has been at the heart of their Cup success.

There’s an argument that says that for the promotion of ‘New Zealand Inc’ they’re better off taking the Cup to wealthier, more populated markets and using their expertise on the water to showcase what they do so well.

But for now, news that the America’s Cup is not coming home to Auckland will be a bitter pill to swallow.

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