By Suzanne McFadden
It is almost a full house in the America's Cup village today, one month from the first race on the Hauraki Gulf.
Only three of the 11 expected challengers have still to arrive in New Zealand, with two more cup boats turning up at the weekend.
The latest arrivals were
the $100 million Prada syndicate, whose first boat stole into its shed in the cup village on Saturday night, and Paul Cayard's AmericaOne team, who turned up in Tauranga yesterday.
Cayard hadn't got his bearings wrong - USA49 and her training partner OneAustralia were shipped in on the Direct Kookaburra, which always docks in Tauranga.
The AmericaOne boats will make their way north today in unique style - on the back of a barge.
Prada has arrived with just one of its two new boats - the other is expected in town in a week. Both boats will be trialling on the gulf by October 1.
The first boat beat most of her crew to Auckland - the sailors were stranded in Asia after a hurricane in Hong Kong disrupted their flight plans.
Young Australia - the campaign with the youngest crew, the smallest budget and the oldest boat - should arrive in Auckland today, the French Le Defi BTT is due in port tomorrow, while the Japanese Nippon syndicate is expected to turn up by the weekend.
The number of challengers for the Louis Vuitton Cup challenger series, which starts on October 18, appears to have come down to 11, now that the Russians say they are not coming and the second French team, Le Defi Sud, have put their boat up for sale.
