Auld Mug - how not to cop the chaos

If you think Auckland's waters are crowded for the Anniversary Regatta, you haven't seen anything yet.
Suzanne McFadden sounds a warning to boaties about the cup.

Imagine an armada of 10,000 boats - from tiny kayaks to massive gin palaces - jostling for space around a watery diamond somewhere in the Hauraki Gulf.

Imagine them making their way there - skippers with no licences, boats with no warrants, on a highway with no lanes - without crashing, sinking or losing the odd man overboard.

This is not a dream. This is reality, America's Cup 2000.

The biggest challenge may not be in winning the Auld Mug, but in avoiding chaos on the ocean waves. Safety at sea is a mountainous issue for the organisers of this regatta, which starts in less than eight months.

Harbourmaster James McPetrie has a personal recommendation to cup fans: "Switch on the TV at home, or go out on a charter boat."

Estimates of how many boats, big and small, will hit the water during the America's Cup match in February next year top 10,000.

Mr McPetrie would be more comfortable with somewhere between 3500 and 5000 a day.

However many thousand are bobbing around the race track, the fleet will still be bigger than any ever seen in the modern America's Cup era.

Remember this: in San Diego in 1995, the spectator fleet peaked at 700 craft. Foreign challengers called policing of the fleet "over-regimented." In 1987, in Fremantle, the crowds rarely rose over 550 boats. Around 1500 craft were out for the departure of the round-the-world race fleet last year.

As harbourmaster, Mr McPetrie is in charge of a multi-party operation policing the gulf and the Waitemata Harbour.

"The level of enjoyment relies on how people obey the rules. It's very much in the public hands how racing unfolds. If there is too much trouble, I will have to direct that the day's racing be cancelled," he said.

The patrolling group includes the Auckland Regional Council, the police, Navy, Coastguard. The event organisers - AC2000 and the America's Cup Challenge Association - look after the inside of the racetrack.

When racing begins in the challenger series on October 18, there will be around 25 patrol boats on the water.
During the cup match, that will double in size.
Controlling the crowds is a three-tiered exercise. Patrol boats, probably from local yacht clubs, will warn offending boat-owners if they are breaking the rules. If they don't listen, in come ARC vessels with honorary enforcement officers who will have the power to hand out fines.

If the errant boaties continue to be a problem, the police - in their new cup patrol fleet launched yesterday - will be called to the scene.

The ARC will advertise for "super-qualified" boaties with suitable vessels to be trained as enforcement officers. They will have the power under the Marine Transport Amendment Act, No 3, passed in Parliament just before Christmas. The maximum fine dished out will be $1000.

The problem will be picking up recurring offenders, because there is no boat registration in New Zealand.
Says Mr McPetrie: "Hopefully registration is something that will eventuate from the America's Cup."

America's Cup 2000 event director Tony Thomas is relieved that the act is finally in place. "Until Christmas, I still didn't have a race track to run the regatta," he said.

"I couldn't stop people coming in. But now we have our exclusive zone."

The race track is a huge diamond, around 7km long.
Within its boundaries will be two race boats, an umpire boat, and a couple of patrol boats to keep the rest out.

Mr Thomas also advises that people who want a really good look at the race are better off watching it on television. "People have expectations that they can follow the race yachts down the middle of the course.
But this is a stadium. You don't run down the rugby field after the halfback, do you?"

There is a fear that racing could be called off if the wind swings around and it becomes too difficult to move the race track by moving the floating crowd. A VHF radio channel will be used to inform boaties of any changes.

Mr McPetrie's main concern is the passage to and from the race track. Next week leaflets will be issued to boat clubs around the country, detailing the special rules and regulations for the regatta. Among them are:

*No anchoring in the shipping lanes.

*A 100m exclusion zone around the America's Cup race boats at all times, even when they are sailing to and from the course.

*A 5-knot speed limit in a variety of situations.

*No one under 15 years can drive a motorboat.