Pr
roLine
NO COMPROMIS EXCELLENT SAFETY
& MINIMUM WEIGHT ERGONOMIC CLIP REFLECTIVE
4 MODELS AVA AILABLE
and ISAF regulations (OSR) Compliant with ISO 12401-2009
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Contained within the notes accompanying the Protocol release was the explicit warning of Italy being the alternative venue, ‘in the unlikely event that Auckland… is unable to host the event’. Clearly, though, potential challengers needed to be sure of the venue before August. The first closing date for entries is 30 June, after which late entries attract a US$1million penalty. Teams could hardly be expected to commit to an America’s Cup campaign by the end of June without knowing where they would be competing. With that in mind and anticipating the inevitable grandstanding and chest-thumping that politicians seem to find essential behaviour in these matters, the Italian threat loomed over the proceedings. ETNZ boss Grant Dalton made it clear that New Zealand was over- whelmingly the preferred option – the goal of the team was always to bring the Cup ‘home’. But as the clock ticked on, the negotiations seemed to bog down. Ominously, the inconceivable idea of Auckland losing the event began to seem a real possibility. In fairness, the political players had to balance the constraints of their respective constituencies and budgets against the undoubted attractions of hosting a major international event. A newly elected Labour government facing massive demands in housing, health and education was always going to be sensitive to arguments about spending public money on a sporting event for ‘rich people’. Likewise, a city council groaning under congestion issues and failing infrastruc- ture. At one point Mayor Phil Goff wailed that he needed all the money he could lay his hands on to fix transport woes. Although New Zealand’s two previous America’s Cup defences in 2000 and 2003 have proved that funding the Cup is not a hand- out, but a solid investment with enviable returns, that argument has never been convincingly sold. The Cup, with its billionaires and high- cost technology, is a red rag to those denizens of callback radio who rail against it at every opportunity. And many of them come straight out of the Labour-voting fraternity.
Another obstacle was that initial concepts for creating team bases involved extending a new building platform 75m into the Waitemata Harbour; only last year there was a huge outcry over the Port Company’s proposals to ‘steal more’ of the harbour with new land reclamation. Opponents, including environmentalists, yacht clubs and politicians, shouted it down and demanded no further encroach- ments into the harbour – making an about-turn in favour of the America’s Cup untenable.
ETNZ, meanwhile, were pushing hard for a concentration of bases to create a village atmosphere and for a solution that would meet the operational needs of the teams, particularly with deep-water frontage and sufficient space. Some of the proposals were simply unworkable from the team’s point of view.
As ETNZ, the city council and the government argued for three different proposals, a fourth version got tossed in from a group representing commercial-vested interests in the waterfront. This further muddied the waters – and drew a stinging response from Dalton that ‘one imagines anything they come up with will be laced with money-making self-interest.’
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thers under lo els available.
22 SEAHORSE oad.
Testy exchanges continued between the three main parties as the plans were tugged this way and that. Presented with yet another unexpected compromise plan from the government, Dalton grumbled in a formal statement that he was now getting ‘a bit pissed off’. Even in a country that prides itself on informality, government ministers are not accustomed to public exchanges in quite such blunt terms, but David Parker, the minister responsible, later gave grudging respect to Dalton for being a tough customer who fought his corner fiercely. Slowly, as the deadline for a decision loomed, the language from the various parties became more conciliatory. After all, despite the sensitivities, neither the government nor the city council wanted to be blamed for losing an event of this stature to a rival venue. It is a curious feature of public opinion in New Zealand that the period between America’s Cup cycles is dominated by negativity and downright hostility. Yet when the Kiwi team are on the water doing battle the mood soars to support, rivalling, perhaps even exceeding, the All Blacks. When the game is on, no politician of any stripe would want to be responsible for banishing the team to the other side of the world when the event was available to New Zealand on a plate. Ultimately, the final deal sees ETNZ occupying the Viaduct Event Centre, presumably saving the cost of building a new base, while the
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