America's Cup fever hits Rotorua

As America's Cup fever grips the country, New Zealand hotel guests in Rotorua are getting into racing spirit over their breakfasts.

"It definitely is a Kiwi thing," said Princes Gate Hotel front office manager Steven Taylor.

"We've had a couple of Americans through and they actually aren't interested."

More than half a million Kiwis tuned in to watch Team New Zealand beat Oracle in the first America's Cup races on Sunday, topping the number who watched the All Blacks overcome Argentina the night before.

The audience for this year's sailing event has already beaten the highest rated race in the 2007 America's Cup in Valencia, which attracted 270,300 viewers. However, those races were held between 1am and 2am NZ time.

The Princes Gate Hotel had a mix of about 50 per cent New Zealand guests and 50 per cent international, Mr Taylor said.

The atmosphere during races was "always friendly".

"There's a bit of banter that goes on.

"The Kiwis are happy. When we lost [a race] it wasn't really sad - I think everyone expects to keep on winning."

Yachting New Zealand expects this year's America's Cup campaign to attract new enrolments to the sport - even if Team New Zealand lose to Oracle.

"Regardless of the outcome, I think there's been enough of a buzz around it," said participation and development manager Andrew Clouston.

"It's been more accessible this time, it's a little bit more prime time, the boats are excitingly new, they're different.

"God forbid even if we lost, I think there are a lot of people who would say, 'Actually sailing's pretty cool, maybe I'll give that a try'."

Mr Clouston said national yacht club memberships had risen from 28,012 in 2005 to 31,363 this year.

"Rotorua alone has about 90 members."

A membership survey following the 2007 America's Cup campaign showed 3000 new members had signed up since a survey in 2005.

"Sailing is a sport that happens offshore out of the sight of most people, so when something like this happens it throws it right in front of people, which is great for us."

The sport had also benefited from exposure at the 2012 London Olympics, when Kiwi yachting Olympians Jo Aleh and Polly Powrie took the women's 470 class gold medal. The pair drew big crowds at regattas and open days on their return to New Zealand with many spectators wanting to try sailing for the first time.

Yacht clubs were starting to take enrolments for this year's summer season, Mr Clouston said.

Yachting New Zealand hoped to generate more memberships from National Sailing Day on February 16, when 115 clubs would open their doors to the public.

Mr Clouston said learning to sail was not expensive, and would-be sailors did not need their own boat.

"Once you learn, you can sail right up into your 80s. It's not like a contact sport where your body gives out on you."

TAB bookmaker Mark Stafford compared the popularity of the races to that of the Melbourne Cup. Wagers on Team New Zealand on Wednesday were paying $1.07 compared to Oracle on $7.

Emirates Team New Zealand continued their strong showing on Friday winning both races and lead the series 6-1. Both teams have a rest day Saturday and continue Sunday.

- Additional reporting Amelia Wade, APNZ