Lone Wolf: How Emirates Team New Zealand stunned the world

On June 26, 2017, on the turquoise waters of Bermuda’s Great Sound, Peter Burling (26) became the youngest ever helmsman to win the premier trophy in sailing, the America’s Cup. Amongst several other firsts, the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron became the first club ever to win back the America’s Cup - and did so against one of the best funded and technologically astute teams in the 166-year history of the event. Along with sailing partner Blair Tuke, Burling put down another marker in sailing history to become the first crew to win an Olympic Gold medal and an America’s Cup inside a 12-month period. The rookie New Zealand crew, of whom only one had previous America’s Cup experience, trounced the Defender, Oracle Team USA led by the brash Australian, Jimmy Spithill who had ripped the heart out of the Kiwi sailing nation just four years before. The Second Coming is a celebration of the Emirates Team New Zealand win in Bermuda, written from an on the water perspective by one of the world’s most influential America’s Cup photo-journalists, Richard Gladwell, who also shot many of the images used in the 200-page book. This include images deliberately withheld prior to the Cup as they were too revealing of the Kiwi boat and technology. Gladwell closely followed Emirates Team New Zealand through its highs and lows after the 2013 upset in San Francisco. He captured the first images of the cyclors on the morning the AC50 Aotearoa was first splashed in Auckland and broke that story to the sailing world. He was in Bermuda for the 28 days of racing in the 35th America’s Cup Regatta and had a ringside view of the racing from a photography boat. Gladwell was in a unique first-hand position to see the highs and lows of the New Zealand campaign and will relate how a remarkable victory unfolded.