By HELEN TUNNAH
The America's Cup summer starts tomorrow with a knockout Challenger series that will put most of the syndicates out of the contest by Christmas.
Defending skipper Dean Barker said the new format for the Louis Vuitton series was a huge shame.
"It'll be a ghost town walking up and down
here by the New Year," he told the Herald.
A system of elimination, sought by the strongest contenders, will leave just two challengers slugging it out on the water over New Zealand's peak holiday period.
Almost all racing will be over by the end of this year, unlike the last Cup regatta when the six-boat semifinals coincided with the millennium celebrations, and the Challenger finals with Auckland's anniversary holiday and Waitangi Day.
Now, the four-boat semifinals will be over by the end of the year, and the only racing in January will be the Louis Vuitton Cup final, a best-of-nine series, between January 11 and 21. Then there is a gap of more than three weeks before the America's Cup match, starting on February 15.
Budget constraints mean overseas syndicates are likely to take apart their leased Viaduct Harbour bases soon after being knocked out of the contest.
Critics of the new format complain the event may lose momentum because of the long break between the two cups and because there will be little racing in the traditional holiday month of January.
However, most of the challenging teams favour the new schedule, which provides extra time for the winning challenger to prepare to take on Team New Zealand.
Barker said those wanting to see cup racing needed to be aware of the new schedule.
"I think it's a huge shame because in effect a lot of New Zealanders are going to miss out on what is going to probably be the best America's Cup ever."
nzherald.co.nz/americascup
