Yachting: Triple event for world's top sailors

Grant Dalton. Photo / Janna Dixon

The Auckland City Council hopes to build on the city's reputation as a centre for world-class sailing with plans unveiled yesterday to host a trifecta of international yachting events in March.

Billed as the "Auckland Festival of Sail", the events bring together leading professional international match-racing skippers and teams and top-ranked amateurs for 25 days of top-level competition.

The council is contributing $650,000, while the Government will chip in $1.5 million.

The festival will open with the Omega Auckland match-race regatta, before the action moves to America's Cup-class yachts in the Louis Vuitton series.

Rounding out the festival will be the BMW World Sailing Cup final - the leading international keel boat event for amateur sailors.

Emirates Team New Zealand boss Grant Dalton said getting such an event off the ground had been an epic undertaking in the recession.

"It has been the most challenging thing to put together I can remember. Money has been the toughest factor."

In an effort to stage a world-class curtain raiser to the Louis Vuitton series, organisers have come up with an ambitious invitation list for the Auckland match-race regatta. Yachting greats John Bertrand, Dennis Conner, Russell Coutts and Ed Baird can all expect invitations to compete in the $105,000 series.

"The people on the circuit are not necessarily the best people that could be on the circuit, because they're involved with other things. So ... we'll also be inviting some of the legends of the sport - people who don't necessarily rank on the circuit at the moment, but are people who have enormous skills in the sport, and we'd like to see in Auckland," said Dalton.

Team New Zealand skipper Dean Barker and new world match racing champion Adam Minoprio are already confirmed for the Omega regatta. Barker is looking forward to facing the likes of Bertrand, Conner and Coutts.

"When I was sailing Optimists at Murrays Bay they were the guys dominating the America's Cup scene. They are the real heroes of the sport, so to have those sort of people here would be incredible," he said.

After the match racing regatta Barker will have little more than a day's turnaround before the Louis Vuitton series gets under way.

Rather than being run out of the Team New Zealand base, the regatta will shift to the other side of the Viaduct, nearer the bars and restaurants to allow greater public access.

FESTIVAL OF SAIL

MARCH 1-25, 2010

March 1-6: Omega Auckland Match Race Regatta - invitation match-racing series.

March 7-21: Louis Vuitton Trophy Auckland - AC class yachts raced in round-robin and knockouts.

March 22-25: BMW World Sailing Cup final - leading international keel boat event for amateurs.