Yacht squadron's hectic summer

By TOM CLARKE

Auckland has an exciting summer ahead of it and the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron, as defender of the America's Cup, expects to be at the heart of the action.

Craig Peploe, who has just been appointed general manager of the squadron, says the build-up to the cup defence in 2003 will start this January when he expects most of the challenger syndicates to be here to prepare for the start of the Louis Vuitton challenger series in October, 2002.

"The whole waterfront development, and particularly what they've done with the Viaduct Basin, has given Auckland a new perspective," he says. "It was about time we did something like that - every other city with a waterfront has developed it."

The squadron has a hectic and exciting time ahead, he says, and some major challenges.

Next month it will host the Lindauer coastal classic race, which will be followed by the Coca Cola Cup for junior sailors. Then there is the Steinlager-Line 7 match-racing, which is part of an international series and is expected to attract some of the world's top skippers.

Next year, the squadron will be involved in the Volvo round-the-world race (formerly the Whitbread).

These events will create significantly more activity and business for the squadron's facilities and services. But his major challenge is to get members to use the club, too.

"Most of our members have business affiliations of one sort or another, and I'd like to see them using our facilities more often for their business meetings and functions. We can do most of the things that hotels and other function centres can do, but with the difference that we have the America's Cup here, we've got a fantastic location and fantastic views and we're refining our services to take the club to the same level as that available at places like the Carlton Hotel."

He says the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron is one of the world's most successful yacht clubs. No club anywhere in the world can claim as many international successes, he says, and there is no major international trophy that the club has not held at some time - including the Kenwood, Admiral's, Whitbread and America's Cups.

Mr Peploe has an international background in the hospitality industry. He was born in New Zealand, but spent most of his younger years in South Africa, Britain and the United States. He has worked in hotels around the world, and he was operations analyst with Biltmore Hotels in the United States .

He joined the Pan Pacific Hotel in Auckland in 1994 and stayed with the Carlton Hotel group when it took over the Pan Pacific in 1995. He was food and beverage manager at the Carlton before joining the squadron.