By ENA HUTCHINSON
August 26: Everyone is invited to Waitemata Plaza at 7pm when Lady Pippa Blake names Team New Zealand's first new boat at the Team New Zealand base. The half-hour ceremony will be broadcast to the Plaza. "Don't be late or you'll miss the most exciting part," says Prue
Gardner, events manager of America's Cup 2003.
Welcome to the Syndicates Month. The various teams open their bases to visitors:
* September 8: Team New Zealand
* September 14 Oracle
* September 15 Alinghi
* September 21 GBR
* September 22 One World
September 28: Official opening ceremony. Festivities start at 4pm when the teams parade down Queen St and on to Te Wero Island for the official opening ceremonies for the Louis Vuitton Cup and the America's Cup. Team New Zealand takes over the management of Viaduct Harbour.
September 30: Louis Vuitton's America's Cup Legend exhibition opens at the Maritime Museum. Created for the cup's 150-year jubilee celebration, the exhibition first appeared at Cowes last year. A multimedia extravaganza, it uses audio headsets and 3m-high screens which sail visitors into the heat of the racing. Admission is included in the museum's entrance fee.
November 1 to January 15: Art for Earth Exhibition, a painting and mural competition between Auckland and Seattle Schools, promoting the environmental message and sponsored by One World syndicate and Microsoft.
December 1 onwards: Stage and seating for up to 3500 will be set up on Te Wero Island, which will become the hub of cup activities. The island will be used exclusively for concerts and as the place for the public to get together to watch the racing on a big screen.
This time around, the America's Cup will be more accessible to the public. The corporate entertaining area, which took up so much room last America's Cup, has been relocated to the western Viaduct.
As Prue Gardner says, "We're looking forward to an exciting summer programme with ticketed concerts as well as entertainment on race days and weekends. This time we really want to get the people of Auckland involved with the cup."
For things to do, see our Cup watcher's guide.
