But after four weather delays and repeated dominance by Team New Zealand, the fleet dwindled to under 200 for Race 4. At the end of Race 5, 100,000 people jammed Auckland Harbor for the return of the two boats. Already, questions are being asked what it will take to defeat Team New Zealand

After a grueling Louis Vuitton Cup, most people felt the 202 race series had prepared the Italians well, but New Zealand helmsman Russell Coutts and his team made winning look easy. Sixteen years of continuous match racing and eight continuous years of America's Cup training paid off for Coutts, who won every start convincingly. In the final race, he stepped off the boat, giving the wheel to his young understudy Dean Barker, who never missed a beat and easily won the start and the race.

Team New Zealand presents a complete package. If one were to name an America's Cup all-star team, you would be hard pressed to take any individual off the New Zealand roster and replace him with any other sailor.

The Kiwis also showed up with an innovative hull form featuring a chin bow and long waterline. A stiff mast gave the sails more power.

Among the heroes of Team New Zealand were two Americans, Clay Oliver of Annapolis, Md., who served as principal yacht designer, and Bob Rice (New Hampshire), who was the weather guru. Oliver is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and has been a part of three previous winning Cup design teams.

The America's Cup turned into a sailor's competition. The shifty winds of the Hauraki Gulf tested every tactician. But the Kiwis grew up on these waters and the difference showed. Tactically New Zealand had a philosophy to always engage upwind and downwind in contrast to the challengers who often split from each other. Through ten America's Cup races in 1995 and 2000, Team New Zealand was never behind at a single mark. Only once did Prada cross ahead. But they failed to cover and were punished immediately when the wind shifted in New Zealand's direction.

Yacht Club Punta Ala of Italy has been named the new Challenger of Record. The Italians served in this capacity in Australia back in 1987.

To take on Team New Zealand, a challenger must start immediately to begin fundraising, analyzing this Cup, recruiting design talent, sailors, and begin training next summer in New Zealand.

The one lesson all the challengers learned is that late starts do not work. I expect fewer challengers to emerge when the harsh reality of how hard it is to raise substantial funding becomes clear. From the U.S., fewer, but better, prepared teams are in order. Of this year's contenders, three teams have publicly stated that they hope to continue, AmericaOne, America True and Team Dennis Conner. Young America is still recovering from their disaster when their boat broke in half, and Abracadabra is unlikely to try again.

In addition to the New Zealand sailing champions, there were a number of other winners in Auckland.

Italian Skipper Francesco de Angelis earned everyone's respect handling a cantankerous boss Patrizio Bertelli who publicly blasted his own crew after every loss. Dawn Riley demonstrated that a co-ed crew can be competitive at the America's Cup level. North Sails 3DL process was used exclusively by eleven of the twelve competing teams. Southern Spars built the masts for both New Zealand and Prada. For America's Cup 2000, the New York Yacht Club did a terrific job running the races and administering the challenger series.

There were several losers in this America's Cup, too. The weather never seemed to cooperate as four of the America's Cup race days were postponed for a lack of wind. The record of the America's Cup race days postponed was seven, in 1899. Patrizio Bertelli showed a lack of class by handing out a press release after Race 4 blasting the performance of his crew. He made Bobby Knight and Bill Parcells looks like saints. The beleaguered head of Young America, John Marshall, promised to issue a full disclosure of why Young America broke in half. To date, no such report has been forthcoming. Marshall's syndicate now faces a mountain of debt and will have a difficult time continuing in the future.

Potential challengers have a deadline of March 1, 2001. But preparation will have to take place much sooner if anyone hopes to be competitive against Team New Zealand.

As many of the sailors were leaving Auckland this week, they were looking forward to competing in the Olympics and the Volvo Ocean Race. Hopefully those events will offer a more balanced competition.