Yachting: The best seat in world sport

The Louis Vuitton Trophy is more accommodating than the America's Cup and the 18th man can take a camera. Photo / Getty Images

When Dan Carter stands just off the shoulder of Dean Barker on the Waitemata Harbour this weekend, he'll join a rather elite club which includes royalty, billionaires, captains of industry and sporting legends.

If you have ever had the chance to fill what some have dubbed the best seat in sport, know that you are one of a privileged few.

The 18th man is a role on board an America's Cup boat for those who quite often don't know the difference between a jib and gybe.

It's a ticket of priceless value, although one American was happy to part with nearly $150,000 for the opportunity in Valencia in 2007.

In the Louis Vuitton Trophy in Auckland this week and next, the role is shared between sponsors, spouses, sports stars, city celebrities and the odd sailing scribe. There are rumours around the Viaduct that two royal princesses could be in line for the 18th person spot later in the week.

But first, Carter gets his ride. The All Black first five-eighths will don a lifejacket to sail with Emirates Team New Zealand in Sunday's round-robin race.

In one word, Team NZ boss Grant Dalton explains why the 18th man is so important to Cup sailing: "Payback."

"It's an opportunity for a team like ours to create commercial benefit. Whether we're racing or training, we'll take people out with us as a way of giving some payback," he says.

Those people are usually a generous sponsor, or potential backer. So what does that make Carter? "Oh, he's a national icon. And he's a good mate of Winston [Macfarlane, Team NZ grinder]."

It's hard to imagine another sport which allows the uninitiated to truly be among the thick of the action.

The idea was first proposed in 1980, when French skipper Bruno Trouble asked America's Cup officials if he could take an extra man on board his challenging 12m-yacht France III.

The owner, pen magnate Baron Marcel Bich, desperately wanted to be on board as a spectator in his fourth Cup challenge. His request was refused, so Bich took the role of one of the four winchmen, but never turned a handle.

"Instead he stood by me at the wheel, cleaning my glasses when we were in front, and peeling me oranges," says Trouble, now one of the organisers of the Louis Vuitton Trophy.

"When we were losing, he would pull a plane ticket to Paris out of his blazer pocket and wave it at me. When we were well in front, or far behind, he would ask me to let him steer, and say 'I can lose a race on my own, I don't need you to do it'!"

Bich was 12 years too early to ride on a Cup boat without having to work. But in the role of observer, he would never have been allowed to steer or even speak to his skipper.

Italian millionaire industrialist Raul Gardini succeeded in having the rules changed in 1992, giving fellow moguls, sports glitterati and sponsors a free ride in the extreme stern of Cup boats.

In the past, King Juan Carlos of Spain, Prince Michael of Kent, Formula One king Michael Schumacher, French president Jacques Chirac and International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge have all had a go.

In the strict rules of America's Cup competition, the 18th man cannot help the crew, offer advice, or carry a camera, for risk of spying.

He or she cannot be an experienced sailor or a weather expert, who may slip critical information to the team.

The Louis Vuitton Trophy is more accommodating for its special guests.

For the first time, the 18th man can take a camera, still or moving, on the back of the boat to capture their exceptional moment. And it's okay to chat with the afterguard around them, as long as they're not in the midst of a heated tacking duel.

Gardini fought for Cup rules to be changed to allow "an owner's representative" to become part of the crew, which in 1992 numbered 16. Thus the original name "17th man" was born.

He was often seen wearing a tie and smoking cigarettes on the back of his boat, Il Moro di Venezia, as his crew went hammer and tongs in racing mode.

So highly sought-after is the 18th-man berth that teams have sometimes auctioned the ride to raise money for charity - or their own cause.

A Chicago businessman and racing enthusiast bid US$102,600 to secure the coveted position on the BMW Oracle Racing yacht in the 2007 Louis Vuitton Cup semifinals - the money going to breast cancer research.