French flavour to holiday weekend racing

By SUZANNE McFADDEN

Two French America's Cup yachts - from different sides of the tracks - are gearing up to sail together for the first time in the Auckland Anniversary Day regatta.

Le Defi France's swift Sixieme Sens could be cutting through the waves in Monday's regatta with its new white nose, stuck on since its run in the semifinals of the cup challenger series.

Another French cup boat with a chequered past will get its first taste of a big regatta. After five years in constant trouble, FRA40 will finally see action - even if it is from a distance as a spectator.

In its short lifetime, the daffodil yellow French boat has been abandoned, arrested and seized by a bank.

But now two Kiwi entrepreneurs have bought the boat and given it a new lease of life as a charter yacht.

FRA40 has been renamed NZL40 and plans are to start taking yachting fans out on the Hauraki Gulf this weekend to experience sailing on a cup boat.

It was built in France for a cup challenge which never happened in 1995. It was then taken over by the French challenge from the Yacht Club de Cannes, who planned to sail it in the 1999 Louis Vuitton Cup regatta.

The French leased it to the Swiss Fast2000 campaign two years ago, who brought it to Auckland as a training yacht.

But when the Swiss struggled to pay their bills, a writ was stuck on the mast. In October, when it became obvious the team from Cannes were not going to turn up, the boat was seized by a French bank.

Aucklanders William Goodfellow and Cam Malcolm bought it from the bank for a "six-figure sum," and have spent almost as much altering it to make it safer for paying passengers.

America's Cup boats are difficult beasts to handle, so the yacht has now been fitted with an engine, handrails and navigation lights.

Its crew will wear lifejackets when they go out on their two-hour excursions, paying $75 a head for the experience.

The paying sailors, big or small, will be the grinders as the professional crew drive the rest of the boat on the periphery of the America's Cup course.

NZL40 is still painted yellow, but now wears a black fern on either side of the hull.

Le Defi will decide today whether to enter the regatta, after taking their boat for a test run yesterday following major surgery.

The French attacked their boat with chainsaws, slicing 4m off the bow and adding a v-shaped nose, which cuts through choppy seas more easily.

The New Zealand Herald Auckland Anniversary Day Regatta has already attracted more than 1000 entries, after a steady decline in the 1990s saw participation drop to 500 boats.

Entry forms can be obtained by telephoning 0800-REGATTA or 0800 734-2882.