By Susan Kruller
November, 2001

No matter what your passion, New Zealand has something to offer you; unspoiled beaches, world class hiking, award-winning wineries, breath-taking vistas, world class golf, every extreme sport imaginable, an exquisite native history, the southern hemisphere’s tallest tower, and of course, the best of sailing. The main feature in New Zealand for many, however, is that it is currently the home of the America’s Cup, and will host the events that will allow the world to challenge next for the Cup in 2002-2003.

Seattle Yacht Club’s syndicate, OneWorld Challenge and nine other challenging syndicates will be involved in the Louis Vuitton Cup next autumn. This is an elimination series established to select the challenger for the America’s Cup competition in 2003 against Team New Zealand. The Louis Vuitton Cup will begin in Auckland on October 1, 2002.

The Louis Vuitton Cup will be held as two round-robins. There will be a break of seven days between the two round-robins. The final two challenging syndicates that emerge will race in a best-of-nine series in January, 2003. The winner will go on with the right to challenge Team New Zealand in a best-of-nine series for the America’s Cup.

America's Cup competition between Team New Zealand and the winning challenger will begin on February 15, 2003.

Whether you’re planning to go to New Zealand for the Louis Vuitton Cup, the America’s Cup competition, or both, you’d better get cracking. Experts say the time is now to get your reservations lined up for travel and accommodations.

Seattle Yacht Club held an “America’s Cup Vendor Night at SYC” event October 1 to help members learn more about travel options and logistics. Representatives from New Zealand Trade Development Board, cruise lines, travel agencies and interested SYC members gathered to share information. Some even began to put ideas together on what coordinated activity members may want.

“The important thing is to know where you want to go in advance. Do a bit of research – we can help you a bit with that in telling you what’s in Auckland and how to get around in Auckland,” said Phillipa Straver of the New Zealand Trade Development Board, “I wouldn’t leave it any later than mid - February to mid-March. That is about a long as you’d want to wait to schedule for the Finals – especially if you want to be in New Zealand for a long stay.”

All present agreed that if you want to book reservations to include the Louis Vuitton Cup, you need to get your reservations right away.

A cruise ship representative said his company would be reallocating more ships to New Zealand next year, and their books are open right now for reservations in 2002. They’ll be opening the 2003 books in about three months, but have a preliminary schedule to help you make plans. There are already groups from the east coast expressing a desire to reserve entire cruise ships. It’s time to block out opportunities – individual or group - right away. For the early going, coordinate with the Ben and Shirley Cozad on cruise ship activities that may be group based on the part of SYC.

So how about accommodations and activities on shore? We’re already reading about housing shortages for the syndicate team members in Auckland right now. What will it be like with the Louis Vuitton Cup and the America’s Cup? Part of the crunch is because New Zealand residents are prepared to move out and rent during the main events, but are less inclined to make their home space available from now until the Louis Vuitton. There will be a run on reservations eventually, so there are compelling schedule and pocketbook reasons to act early.

“Actually it’s not too late, in fact, now it’s really good timing for two good reasons: one, there is a lot of availability still, and two, the US Dollar against the New Zealand dollar,” explained a travel provider, “ so we’re selling 5-star property for the cost of what we used to sell 3-star properties.”

“Properties” include hotels, luxury lodges, apartments, and bed-n-breakfasts. The advice is that the old adage, “Location, Location, Location,” fits in well for a really short stay. A nice hotel is recommended, because there are a couple of them very close to the Village – walking distance. So you’re a part of all the excitement.

So what do you do if you have to choose between the Louis Vuitton and the America’s Cup final? The benefit of the Louis Vuitton is that it occurs during what is called the “shoulder season” so it’s a lot less expensive. Another distinction is that ten syndicates will be racing in the Louis Vuitton, plus the guarantee that you will see the OneWorld Challenge team compete. However, you will not see Team New Zealand in direct competition.

With the finals, although we are faithful in cheering OneWorld Challenge’s ability to reach it, the only guarantee is that you will see Team New Zealand in action. The benefit of being there for the actual finals is that “it’s a completely crazy atmosphere that everybody just eats up down there,” said the travel expert.

“It’s going to be a little more expensive to go there during the finals, but you will still be able to find excellent properties, but there’s nothing wrong with going during the Louis Vuitton to capitalize on saving some money and touring some with what you save.”

Barbara Leap, an SYC member who went to New Zealand for the last America’s Cup competition said, “What we did on our first trip, was we immediately headed for the Cup Village. It was so cool, there’s so much going on down there. You get so close to the boats, you can hang out, and there’s so much to see. It took us about three days before we could get to any of the touristy things to do.”

Channel One TV of New Zealand covers the action on the water all day live to be seen anywhere in New Zealand, and on a big stadium-sized screen in the Village.

“The big event is right there in Cup Village. You can see everything. They’ve got a shop for every one of the syndicates. And then you can go hang out on one of the piers – on either side – and watch the boats either coming in from their day of racing or going out.”

Don’t worry if you missed the Vendor event, people at Seattle Yacht Club are still exploring ways to coordinate members that would like to group up, establishing events for SYC members only, and the possibility of arranging boats for SYC members to get out on the water during the competition. These are in the idea stage only - none of these have been set. If you have questions regarding member involvement or want contact information for the vendors that attended, please contact SYC members Ben and Shirley Cozad. The Chair of the SYC America’s Cup Committee is Mike Duffy. You may also want to thank these people for a job well done so far.

For research on New Zealand, the New Zealand Trade Development Board has a good web site at www.purenz.com with more contact information and links. The United States New Zealand Embassy is in Washington D.C, at (202) 328-4800. And applications for a U.S. Passport or passport renewal is conveniently available at many locations including the U.S. Post Office or Municipal Building nearest you.