By Suzanne McFadden
The starter's gun looks likely to fire a week early for the America's Cup next year to avoid a Labour Day logjam on the water.
Regatta organisers are afraid enthusiastic holidaymakers could create chaos on the racecourse on the opening day of the challengers' series.
A decision will be made
on the start date at a meeting of the 16 challengers in Bermuda this weekend.
The series, to be raced on the Hauraki Gulf, was to have kicked off on October 25, Labour Day, 1999. Dyer Jones, the chairman of the America's Cup Challengers Association, said a proposal would be put forward to start on Monday, October 18.
"Labour Day is the last day we would want to start off on," he said. "I don't think we want to contend with all the holiday traffic on the water on the first day."
Public safety on the water will be controlled by the Auckland Regional Council, through the harbourmaster.
The other major issue to be discussed is rules on the water.
It is not so much about setting rules, but making sure there is one common interpretation of them.
It has been a contentious issue since the new international match racing rules were introduced two years ago.
"Around the world at match racing events there appear to be inconsistencies in the way calls are made," Jones said. "It depends where you draw your umpires from. In an event like the America's Cup, we're going to be bringing them in from all over the world."
One common example is rounding the leeward mark, when the leading boat with the right-of-way takes a wide turn, allowing the other yacht to poke its nose in.
"Who has right of way then? Does it change?" Jones said. "This is what we have to determine."
Jones, who has just moved with his family from New York to Auckland, compared it with his wife driving on the left-hand side of the road in New Zealand. "She's lost two hubcabs on the left side of the car by starting the turn wide and ending too tight."
The matter of whether umpires will stand on the back of boats and make calls will also be debated. The move is used successfully in New Zealand's international match racing grand prix, the Steinlager Line 7 regatta.
