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For travelers visiting the "land of the long white cloud," New Zealand leaves no doubt as to who holds the America's Cup. When you step out of the terminal at Auckland International Airport, the official legend "City of Sails" is framed by abstract renditions of sailboat sails. And parked right in front are two America's Cup boats.
The recent excitement in Auckland — New Zealand's largest city, with a population of nearly 1 million — has not been the America's Cup, however. Up through Sept. 14, it was APEC that had everyone's attention. You couldn’t escape it unless you left the city for two weeks of wine tasting.
APEC (Asian-Pacific Economic Cooperation) CEO Summit — I can just imagine the politicking behind that unwieldy title) was a mixed blessing to Aucklanders. Yes, it filled the hotel rooms and gave recognition to a country for which tourism is a growth industry. But businesses in the central business district reported a 40 percent drop in sales during the summit.
That's because the central business district was turned into a police state. Cops were on every street corner; Secret Service agents rimmed the rooftops.
Top officials from 17 countries took part, including President Clinton, who stayed in the hotel next to mine. Attendees consumed virtually every room in the CBD. Some America's Cup teams were forced out of their hotels for the duration, and I had to bunk with co-workers until it was over.
Security was intense. No potential bomb repositories were permitted. City workers literally sealed the manhole covers and mailboxes in the vicinity of top leaders' hotels and Aotea Square, where the meetings were held. They also removed the sidewalk trash cans — which were cemented to the sidewalk. A crew was in front of my hotel with a jackhammer one day.
Security officials prohibited the use of "wheelies" — small trash cans that are wheeled to the curb on collection day. Any wheelies (officially known as MGBs — mobile garbage bins) seen on the street during the summit were subject to removal.
New Zealand Herald reporter Warren Gamble wrote: "The [government] notice does not say what will happen to the MGBs if they are left out, but presumably they would be rounded up and kept in custody without trial until their danger passes."
Meanwhile, the Aucklanders had to toss their trash on the sidewalks and a crew of street sweepers armed with brooms and dustpans came along and collected it every day.
Clinton attended a breakfast meeting at the America's Cup Media Centre (I was not invited). He wanted all the U.S. boats lined up for inspection. But the syndicates refused. They didn’t want anyone to have the opportunity to do side-by-side comparisons, the president of the U.S. notwithstanding. A 1995-vintage boat was used instead.
America's Cup On The Horizon
With APEC behind them, the New Zealand public is warming up to the America's Cup regatta. But with competition still weeks away and the New Zealand boat not scheduled to race until February, cup fever won’t become pandemic until the hangovers from Millennium Madness have subsided.
That's not to say preparations have lagged. Rather, they are impressive. As the Kiwis like to say, "We’re doing it properly" — the implication being that San Diego did not. The Kiwis are still smarting over the Catamaran vs. Big Boat debacle in 1988. In fact, as a constant reminder of that perceived injustice, the Big Boat is the centerpiece of the America's Cup Village.
Oops, excuse me. It’s the American Express New Zealand Cup Village. The word America is notably absent because (1) the village people refused to pay an exorbitant licensing fee, or (2) they were never offered it in the first place. I suspect the former, but no one is interested in airing dirty laundry to a foreign journalist.
Otherwise, the Kiwis have done a bang-up job. With upwards of $40 million in public funds, plus private money, they redeveloped a decaying section of the city's waterfront — the Viaduct Basin — creating a new wharf that houses all 12 of the Cup syndicates in one location.
The Cup Village is on the opposite side of a narrow channel. There's a delightful promenade that allows the public to look into the compounds and see the boats. It’s the equivalent of putting the boats on the Broadway Pier and the Cup Village on the B Street Pier, and building new hotels and condominiums at Lane Field.
The United States has five teams here, including Dennis Conner's. The security is almost as intense as it was for APEC. The compounds are rimmed with razor wire and have round-the-clock guards. Most of the boats have the infamous skirts around them. All except for Conner's, that is. His boat is "naked" and the keel is in plain view.
Conner calls it his "gift" to the New Zealand people. But the New Zealand people I spoke with believe DC is more interested in getting into their pockets than their hearts.
I haven't heard any odds on the competition yet, but for those in the know, the challenger favorites are Italy's Prada Challenge, Japan's Nippon Challenge, San Francisco's AmericaOne and New York's Young America, with Conner a dark horse. The winner of the challenger series, which begins Oct. 18, will take on the Kiwis in February.
In terms of marketing and merchandising, however, Conner is way out front. His gift shop — selling everything from outerwear to underwear — was open before his boat arrived, and his popular Stars & Stripes Waterfront Bar is just a couple blocks away.
Next month: Meeting The Prime Minister.
Larry M. Edwards is a San Diego journalist in New Zealand working on the official America's Cup website: www.americascup.org. While there, he's promised to regularly file Notes from New Zealand reports.
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