She makes it all happen

by Suzanne McFadden on 18 Feb 2009
Behind every great Louis Vuitton event, there is a great woman.

For almost 20 years, that woman has been Christine Belanger.

Event director Belanger was in her element on the evening of the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series welcome party last Saturday, in an elegant silver dress and smile to match.

The evening was a huge success for Belanger and her organisation team. 'This may not have been on the same scale as past Louis Vuitton parties, but it still took some time to organise. It really helps that we have been here before, that we know the people in Auckland who can help us. Those people understand what we need, and what our expectations are. It takes a lot of the stress away,' she says.

'Part of the fun is seeing everyone enjoying themselves.' Fun has been the overriding theme throughout this regatta, but Belanger stresses: 'It doesn’t mean if you are having fun that you aren’t serious. The racing is very competitive. The passion of the people here in Auckland is motivating - working in such a wonderful ambience is very positive and productive.'

Having had only a short period to organise this inaugural 10-team international regatta has been quite a challenge, admits Belanger, who has worked as an inimitable duo with Troublé for nearly 20 years.

'It was September that the event was really discussed and announced after Bruno came up with the concept, but the organisation did not really begin until October and then over Christmas there was little we could do,' she says. 'Things may have been a little rushed, but everyone has had the same goal and that has been really important. We knew we could hold it here because so many people in New Zealand are always willing to help – the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron, the Auckland Harbourmaster, all of the volunteers. You can’t do things alone, and we are so grateful for their help.'

The elegant Belanger, a native of France who is an employee of Louis Vuitton, had already begun organising next weekend’s prizegiving and gala dinner before the welcome party was even held. She wears many hats at this event – managing the series staff and all the administration and financial aspects, including the accounting. Then she oversees all of the events off the water and the hospitality.

'We also keep the relationship going with the teams, that’s very important,' she says.

Within a normal day, she begins at 8am, checking the set-up at off-the-water event venues, before arriving at the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series headquarters at the Emirates Team New Zealand base, to transfer payments, download a multitude of emails from Paris, and then talk to Troublé.

Every second day she also phones Yves Carcelle, the Chairman and CEO of Louis Vuitton Malletier, who is due in Auckland this week, to keep him up to speed. Belanger hopes this event heralds a new start in big boat racing.

'I think it’s great. We are enjoying the same kind of spirit as the Louis Vuitton Cup events of 1992 and 1995 – when the boats were jewels but the teams were happy to talk and spend time with each other off the water. We’re coming back to a more human side of the event. And we are all mixing together.' And she hints that there could be another Louis Vuitton Pacific Series in the future – and it will be even better.

'If we have more time to prepare we can definitely improve things on a logistics aspect. It doesn’t mean you have to lose the nice part of it. We could definitely be a little more professional, but it wouldn’t jeopardise the spirit of the event.'

Today, Belanger was 18th person on board Team Shosholoza in the South Africans’ final race of the regatta. Belanger has only one complaint from the experience: the race, she says, was not long enough.

She could have stayed on the sparkling waters of the Waitemata Harbour all day long.