Team NZ on the move...Finn Gold Cup...Cammas injured in foil-strike

by . on 2 Dec 2015 Welcome to Sail-World.com's New Zealand e-magazine for December 3, 2015

Apologies for being off the air for a week or so, caused by a combination of downsizing and moving houses, covering the Finn Gold Cup, and some technical issues with newsletters that we hope have been resolved.

In this edition, we have the story from Team New Zealand of their move from the Viaduct Harbour to Silo Park, which for those who don't know Auckland is on the eastern side of Westhaven Marina.

The team will be going into the space formerly occupied by Luna Rossa in 2012-13, who used a combination of soft-roofed tents and the two level office block, formerly used by one of the tankage companies that occupied the area.

Team New Zealand have whistled a cheery tune in their comments about the move, which is triggered by the 'need' for their space to be turned into a hotel complex.

That move pretty well spells the end of Sir Peter Blake's dream for the Viaduct Harbour to be the jewel in the crown of the Auckland waterfront.

Those who were around in 1995, and in the years preceding the America's Cup win, will remember that the Viaduct Harbour was a sorry sight.

Surrounded by dilapidated and largely disused wooden and fibrolite warehouses, the area was a visual eyesore. Those have now been replaced with apartment and office blocks in quite a tasteful way.

The water space was even worse, with a ferry with a concrete bottom being used as a floating restaurant. The centre of the now deep harbour used to show at low tide offering up all manner of dead boats and marine and domestic junk.

The area did have a bit of character with the fishing boats unloading and re-provisioning before heading out to sea once again.

Blake effectively shamed City Hall into redeveloping the area, but even so he had to battle the town planning mandarins and others to get the revamp across the line. Rumour is that the deal only got the nod because two City Councillors acted ultra vires and pushed the plans and timeline through a reluctant bureaucracy.

Given the green light, the project was completed on time with some innovative engineering and the Cup bases stretched almost from Fanshawe Steet to the northern edge of the Viaduct.

The area had a vibrancy with the combination of hard-core sailing watched over by patrons of the surrounding watering holes, and with great public access.

The centrepiece was the Team NZ base. For the 2003 Cup Alinghi built the teams current headquarters - taken over by Team NZ after Alinghi won the Cup, and the big vacant base was used for the occasional fashion show and the like.

Then the sell-off began. With the move into the old Alinghi base, Team NZ lost their custom built headquarters and all the history that hallowed hall enshrined.

The Events Centre is clearly a stand out multi-use building - used for everything from conventions and boat shows to Volvo Ocean Race stopovers. But it isn't owned by any one body, it has a series of owners - nothing really wrong with that as it adds a changing colour of use to that section of the Viaduct Harbour, and helps keep the area alive.

Team New Zealand's presence on the edge of the Viaduct Harbour, was the last vestige of a living, working base to remind Auckland residents and visitors of what once was there and raison d'etre for the Viaduct development and that section of the Auckland waterfront.

Auckland, New Zealand and Team New Zealand need a strong and visible presence in the Viaduct.

The team also needs to be pumped up to be more than what it is - running multiple campaigns and projects - with Government assistance and backing, as in that mode it is not hide-bound into the nuances of an America's Cup venue, can run a Volvo OR campaign, and be part of the Extreme Sailing circuit - and bring a round of those events to Auckland.

The Team is the shop window of the New Zealand marine industry, and indeed New Zealand technology.

That shop window needs to be in a place where people can look into it, reflect on its 30-year history and be inspired to be part of its future.

Sorry, that's not going to happen tucked away in the Silo Park, expedient, practical and functional as it may be.

The Viaduct Harbour was created because of Team New Zealand.

They are owed their place in it by the people of Auckland and New Zealand.

Other cities have managed their waterfront to maintain a balance of history, watering holes and marinas activities that add mana to the space. That doesn't mean the deal that turns the biggest buck wins.

Auckland needs Team New Zealand in the Viaduct harbour, but it would seem that time has passed, and Auckland will be the poorer for it.

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Good sailing!

Richard Gladwell
NZ Editor

sailworldnzl@gmail.com

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