Team NZ to take helm at Viaduct

By BERNARD ORSMAN

Team New Zealand will try to rule the land as well as the waves at the next America's Cup regatta.

The defenders will today announce an agreement in principle with the Auckland City Council to run events at the Viaduct Basin for the next regatta in exchange for exclusive and lucrative naming rights until 2003.

The deal will see greater public access around the water's edge and save Auckland ratepayers $12 million in clean-up and security costs over the October 2002 to March 2003 regatta period.

Once the agreement is signed in a few weeks, AC2003, the management arm of Team NZ, will hold all naming and sponsorship rights to the Viaduct Basin.

America's Cup Village Ltd (ACVL) lost $9.5 million of public money running the last event, including $4.1 million on the exclusive American Express Yacht Club, which failed, and $1.7 million setting up the old City Markets Building.

This was after Craig Little, chairman of the now-defunct Auckland Regional Services Trust, which set up ACVL, promised ratepayers: "We plan to take no risks with public money."

ACVL said it would not run any more Cup events and would stick with being a property manager for the syndicate bases and marina booths it owns on the public's behalf.

Cup challengers have already quietly moved into Auckland. Oracle Racing, the American campaign bankrolled by the world's second-richest man, Larry Ellison, has begun its summer testing on Auckland waters.

The stark white boat, alias AmericaOne's USA-61, started sailing again on Wednesday, exactly a year to the day after the Louis Vuitton Cup challenger series kicked off on the Hauraki Gulf.

At the helm of the white boat yesterday was its former skipper Paul Cayard, now campaign manager of Oracle Racing.

The syndicate's new skipper, Kiwi Chris Dickson, was on his way to Bermuda for the last of the big matchracing regattas of the year.

The chairwoman of Auckland City's finance committee, Kay McKelvie, said last night that the agreement with Team NZ was good for ratepayers because it carried minimal cost and created more space for the public to "hang out" in the basin.

She said there would be no public stage and giant television screen in the Waitemata Plaza and fewer marquees on the eastern viaduct and Te Wero Island, which has the best view of Team NZ, Prada and the others.

On the downside, AC2003 plans fewer concerts and less public entertainment.

Kay McKelvie said the council would continue to maintain the area until the next Cup at a cost of about $1 million a year, but Team NZ would pay the extra cost of cleaning up the area and providing security.

"This is a potential saving to the ratepayer of up to $12 million."

By securing the naming rights to the village, AC2003 will be able to offer its sponsors a complete package on land and sea from now until 2003. Last time, Team NZ and ACVL were unable to agree on sponsors and competed with each other.

The council and AC2003 have also agreed on how to handle the Volvo Ocean Race, which will have an Auckland stopover in January 2002.

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