Crew shirts will again match the Magic

They are hot - too hot on occasions - but Team New Zealand's high-tech black shirts will be back.

Ross Munro, managing director of Line 7, which made the shirts, said yesterday that the only reason the sailors got too hot during Saturday's non-start was that they were sitting out in the Hauraki Gulf doing nothing.

"There was no wind and it was 28 degrees. It was warm out there. If they had been sailing, the gear would have been fine."

The team swapped to their silver shirts for Sunday's race.

Mr Munro said the two strips - silver shirts with a black fern and black with a silver fern - were made of the same fabric.

"We don't mind which one they wear. Either is equally fine by us because black and silver are our national colours. It's the first time we've out-Prada'd Prada in the fashion stakes: they look great."

Public fascination with the Cup looks set to continue for today's second race, despite it being a work day.

Yesterday was a non-race day but the American Express NZ Cup Village still attracted thousands of people soaking up the nautical atmosphere.

Village public relations manager Sue Foley said there had been some concerns that the final race could fall on a work day, and crowd numbers would be affected. But if yesterday's numbers were anything to go by it should not be a problem.

"It would appear, going by the numbers of people in the village [yesterday], that either there's a lot of unwell people or people have planned their holidays for this time.

"There's no question that there's a lot of Italians out here."

Ms Foley said more than 100,000 people visited the village at the weekend.

Today's match will be shown on the big screen at the village, and international buskers will provide entertainment before and after.

The convincing first-up New Zealand win has already led to longer-term interest in the village. Ms Foley said five challenger syndicates phoned a facilities manager 30 minutes into the first race keen to firm up their sites for the next regatta.

The police commander for the America's Cup, Detective Superintendent Peter Marshall, said his staff were not expecting as many spectator craft on the water today as at the weekend.

He said there would not be any extra police on duty on the water, although there were more spectators than during the Louis Vuitton Challenge.

Meanwhile, as boaties head for the gulf for today's racing, they have been asked to heed an urgent appeal to check their radios after a distress frequency was blocked for more than 30 minutes yesterday.

The very high frequency (VHF) channel 16 is the main radio emergency channel for thousands of boats around the country.

But Auckland Coastguard duty officer Dave Morris said it could not be used for half an hour yesterday, probably because of a fault in a radio set on a boat or because an operator had accidentally left a microphone open.

Mr Morris said all boat owners should check their sets to make sure they were operating properly and to ensure microphones were stowed correctly so the transmit buttons could not be accidentally depressed.

He said if channel 16 could not be used it could delay getting help to a boat in trouble.

"In the past two or three weeks it has happened on a regular basis at least once or twice a week.

"Please check your marine radio gear. It does tend to get forgotten. And make sure your microphones are well stowed."

- STAFF REPORTER, NZPA