Team New Zealand Managing Dir Grant Dalton leaves for the U.S. "on another fundraising drive" as the America's Cup syndicate enters "survival mode," according to Duncan Johnstone of FAIRFAX NZ NEWS. The government's NZ$5M ($4.3M) bridging funding is "fast running out and Dalton needs to find more money." Dalton: "We're working on that. It is survival. We can't go on forever ... we've got a few months [of funding] left. If we can make it through this year, we will make it [to the next cup]." The realities of their situation were "rammed home" last Friday when they "officially ended their attempts to get to the October start line of the Volvo Ocean Race." They decided the NZ$17M budget for that round-the-world odyssey "would be better channelled into their drive to stay alive in the America's Cup." Dalton said of contesting the 35th cup, "Ultimately, that's what we exist for." It is the "drawn out process to produce the protocol for the next cup scheduled for 2017 that is handicapping the Kiwi syndicate." Dalton: "We don't have the protocol or the venue and without either or both it makes it difficult to put any significant sponsorship in place." He confirmed that "there was plenty of goodwill from existing sponsors but they wanted details, especially about the venue and where their money would gain exposure" (FAIRFAX NZ NEWS, 5/4).
