Sailing-Focus on America's Cup future as New Zealand rule the waves

BARCELONA : No sooner had New Zealand crossed the finish line to win the 37th America's Cup off Barcelona this weekend than the focus moved to what the next one will look like.

The beaten British, who had not competed in the final for some 60 years and have never won the event, immediately handed New Zealand a notice to become the "challenger of record", meaning they will now negotiate key aspects of the 38th America's Cup.

Grant Dalton, an America's Cup veteran who has now led what some say is the "complete team" to three consecutive wins, joked when accepting the trophy that the last time he did so he was back at his desk the next morning plotting the next campaign.

    New Zealand proved their prowess on and off the water in their defence of the "Auld Mug", comprehensively defeating the crew led by Ben Ainslie, who said the America's Cup winners were the best team in its 173-year history.

Dalton told Reuters ahead of the final that if New Zealand won their focus would be on continuation, including developing the AC75 boat design, and attracting more teams in addition to the British, French, Italian, Swiss and U.S. entries in 2024.

Although all this year's challengers have said they plan another tilt, mounting a high-tech America's Cup challenge costs at least 75 million euros ($81 million), making the barriers to entry high.

"We want to put stronger budget restraints on to try and encourage new teams," Dalton said, adding that at the same time he did not want to stifle innovation or diminish the technology which makes the America's Cup a design-led competition.

At the same time, however, Dalton said there was a need to look at the mix of sailors and technology on board to allow more opportunities to sail them rather than