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The America's Cup may have pitted New Zealand against the might of the United States but it was two Australians who went head to head as the respective skippers in sailing's most prestigious race.
Bendigo-born Glenn Ashby skippered Team New Zealand in Bermuda's Great Sound to a crushing 7-1 victory over Team USA, who were guided by Sydney's Jimmy Spithill.
The win exorcised the demons from four years ago in San Francisco, when Team New Zealand squandered an 8-1 lead over Spithill's Team USA to lose the challenge series 9-8.
Ashby, who is the sole remaining member of the Team New Zealand's 2013 crew, said it was unbelievable to finally win back the Auld Mug.
The 39-year-old, who won a silver medal for Australia in sailing at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, had a low-key but critical role trimming the giant wing with a games console-type device.
"A few years ago, it was absolutely brutal for the team," said Ashby, who was the only non-New Zealander in the winning crew.
"It was a hard pill to swallow. For myself and a lot of the other guys with the team this time round, it is a great redemption and a relief to right the wrongs of the last campaign."
Team USA's extended crew not only included Spithill, but also fellow Australians Tom Slingsby, Ky Hurst, Tom Johnson, Kyle Langford, Joey Newton, Sam Newton and Graeme Spence.
Slingsby was a 2012 Olympic gold medallist in the Laser class, while Hurst is one of Australia's greatest ironmen and a two-time Olympian in open water swimming.
Spithill could not hide his disappointment but he heaped praise on Team New Zealand following its triumph.
"They made fewer mistakes and they fully deserve it so our hats are off to them," said Spithill, who claimed the first of his two Cups as skipper aged 30 in 2010 with Team USA.
"They were down there training on their own and you've really got to give credit to them for the incredible job they've done."
At 26, Peter Burling supplants Spithill as the youngest helmsman to win sailing's greatest prize in a competition that dates to 1851.
Burling, who won Rio Olympic gold last year in the 49er skiff class with fellow crew member Blair Tuke, has exuded a disarming calm and has now won a place in yachting history.
He has also brought a youthful confidence to New Zealand's rejuvenated campaign to regain the Auld Mug, which Ashby called "this bloody trophy" in his victory speech.
"We're all ecstatic about what we have managed to achieve and we are on top of the world, it's going to be a good night," Burling said.
Many observers have put Team New Zealand's triumph down to the revolutionary 'cycling' system developed to power the hydraulics needed to control the catamaran's foils, which lift it out of the water, and the vast 'wing' sail which drives it along.
Its 'cyclors', including Olympic cycling medallist Simon van Velthooven, have kept their heads down throughout the contest, pedalling furiously to provide enough oil in the system to allow the boat to perform almost balletic pirouette manoeuvres on the water.
The sight of the boats skimming over the crystal clear waters of the natural sailing 'arena' has drawn new audiences for sailing both in Bermuda and on television.
Team New Zealand, in its uniform of black shirts and red socks, feted the victors with flags and cheers as Burling, Ashby and the team lifted the ornate silver trophy, which they later paraded triumphantly back to their base.
AAP/Reuters
Topics: sailing, other-sports, sport, bermuda, new-zealand, united-states