Auckland still seems the most logical and likely venue for the New Zealand event in the fifth season of SailGP after it withdrew from its hosting agreement with Christchurch for 2025. However, Queenstown could have strong appeal to SailGP head Sir Russell Coutts as the base for the next Kiwi leg of the popular event.
Coutts launched a lengthy tirade against local officials in Christchurch after the first day of SailGP racing in March was ditched after sightings of the endangered Hector’s dolphins in the Lyttelton race area – an official marine sanctuary. It became abundantly clear a return to Christchurch/Lyttelton was about as likely as Coutts returning to Emirates Team NZ.
He criticised the Department of Conservation (DoC), Canterbury’s environmental authority ECan, the Ngāti Wheke iwi and Lyttelton Port Company, singling out the local harbourmaster for restrictions he said did not allow teams enough practice time on the water ahead of the regatta.
“SailGP operates all over the world … There is no doubt there are marine mammals in all the locations that we race,” said Coutts at the time. “We’ve never had an incident in 35 events. SailGP has had this extreme marine mammal mandatory protocol forced upon it, demanded by DoC, ECan and Ngāti Wheke for this event.
“Other harbour users, including commercial, are not subjected to such protocol,” he added, saying it was another incidence of “New Zealand being handcuffed by unprecedented layers of bureaucracy and red tape”.
While Auckland’s harbour and strong sailing environment automatically make it the most likely venue, there are reasons why Coutts and Sail GP might favour Queenstown and lake racing at Wakatipu.
Coutts is known to like a South Island event to grow the sport in areas other than Auckland where sailing already has big participation and following.
In February last year, some SailGP sailors attended the Moth-class international championships at the lake, practising on the lake with some staying at Coutts’ large Queenstown property at Crown Terrace.
Moths are highly agile and speedy single-sailor foiling yachts and the annual championships have been held at the lake, hosted by the Wakatipu Yacht Club.
Queenstown has a strong tourism industry, able to accommodate teams and spectators – 20,000 of whom turned out for the Christchurch SailGP event – and will provide plenty of beautiful scenery and compelling pictures for the 50 million claimed as a TV audience.
However, there are good reasons why Queenstown might not be the ideal venue too, even assuming the SailGP F50 foiling catamarans could find wind and water conditions conducive to the type of gung-ho SailGP sailing seen so far.
Any hosting comes with a considerable price tag and the local council is not flush with funds right now. Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown is a keen sailor and member of the Royal NZ Yacht Squadron – and the only reason Christchurch was chosen in the first place was because Auckland couldn’t guarantee the use of Wynyard Point as a spectator gallery – important for SailGP.
Lyttelton’s major appeal was that it provided a natural amphitheatre for spectators – something Lake Wakatipu may struggle to do without some kind of temporary seating or grandstands – not impossible but also expensive.
It’s also thought Coutts would relish putting on a SailGP event in the Auckland backyard of bitter rival Grant Dalton, especially as New Zealand’s America’s Cup campaign is now being waged in Barcelona, to the dissatisfaction of more than a few.
The answer to all this may lie with the coalition Government, all three branches of which came out heavily in favour of Coutts and SailGP when the dolphin donnybrook took place – talking about easing the red tape for world-class events held here.
