They run a tight, secure ship at the Louis Vuitton media centre. The guards looming at every doorway demand accreditation from anyone even thinking of setting foot inside. Even those in charge are not safe from security. "Where's your accreditation?" a guard bellowed to the colourful director of the media
centre, Bruno Trouble. "I have never had accreditation," Trouble replied. "Well you can't go in," said the stubborn guard before the euro finally dropped. America's Cup 2003 director Tony Thomas was also recently denied entry before guards realised who he was.
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Those big empty syndicate bases at the Viaduct Harbour have a use after all - parties. In the past week Mascalzone Latino's base hosted a James Bond-themed all-nighter for the head of Sleepyhead, complete with cage dancers, and Team New Zealand grinder and Olympic wunderkind Rob Waddell held a 30th birthday party for his wife, Sonia, over at Stars and Stripes.
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The 48m motoryacht Vava is owned by Ernesto Bertarelli, the 36-year-old Italian-born Swiss pharmaceutical billionaire and Alinghi syndicate supremo. Vava reportedly cost $3.6 million when she was launched in 1996, which pales against the $15 billion fortune Mr Bertarelli has earned from his company Serono. The steel motoryacht was designed by De Voogt Naval Architects in the Netherlands and built by Royal Van Lent Shipyard.
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Prediction. Team New Zealand 5-0. He may be a little biased, but Mick Cookson is in no doubt who is going to win the cup. Cookson, builder of Team New Zealand's black boats NZL81 and NZL82, is sure the cup is staying here. "I think a bunch of things are going to work for Team New Zealand. If we are quicker, which I like to think we are, it will make life really difficult for Russell Coutts and Brad Butterworth. But I'd say it will depend on whether we are quick enough upwind, but nobody knows we aren't."
