Monkey business lifts base security

By Suzanne McFadden

A prank between America's Cup camps has uncovered the need for stiffer security in the cup village.

The America True challenger team have installed 24-hour surveillance at their compound in the Viaduct Basin after two incidents of intruders breaking in and climbing on board their boat.

The latest incident was on Sunday night, when someone placed stickers on the yacht's hull.

But the cartoons of Godzilla throwing people off the Golden Gate Bridge were a lot less sinister than the graffiti drawn on the boat before Christmas.

An America True spokesman, Chris Coffin, said that a week after the team arrived in Auckland, an intruder painted a swastika and "wrote bad things" on the yacht's boom.

America True, the co-ed campaign headed by Dawn Riley, had had rotating guards on the gate, but last night they installed fulltime guards and electronic surveillance.

"There were mixed feelings when we saw it," Coffin said. "We had to laugh because the graphics were so well done. It's definitely an inter-team prank - we think we know which syndicate it was.

"But it was also a wake-up call to make us realise you need to tighten up on security."

Team New Zealand and the Italian Prada syndicate have strict security around their bases.

But the America One challenge said last night that they locked away only their tools. A spokesman, Bob Billingham, said: "We aren't doing anything here that we have to hide. But things will be very different in October."

America True have decided to keep Godzilla perched on the bridge for a while.

Said Coffin: "We were going to ask them to come back and do the other side as well."

Coutts admits rival boat in clear

An America's Cup challenger craft rammed by a support boat was playing by the rules, Team New Zealand skipper Russell Coutts admitted yesterday.

Chris Main from Japan's Nippon Challenge syndicate told the New Zealand Herald that he feared for his safety when a Team NZ chase boat rammed his craft in the Hauraki Gulf last week.

Main, a 24-year-old Aucklander, said he had been abiding by cup protocols, which stipulated that craft should not venture within 200m of competitors' yachts.

The incident followed jibes about his sailing for the Japanese, he said.
Coutts said on radio yesterday that Main's rubber boat "wasn't within the 200m rule at that time" of the incident.

However, both the Nippon Challenge and the New York Yacht Club syndicates had been doing "what we would deem as shadowing," which was against regulations, he said.

"I think what they're trying to do is stir up some issues about Team NZ because really there haven't been any issues with Team NZ."

Nippon Challenge syndicate manager Terry Newby said that if Main had contravened a rule there were procedures in place to deal with it. "They're just trying to intimidate him."

Pictured: The sight of Godzilla on the Golden Gate Bridge has made the America True syndicate rethink security. PICTURE / BRUCE JARVIS