America's Cup- Ride aboard Defender's AC72 to be auctioned in 24hours

by Richard Gladwell on 2 May 2013
In less than 24 hours, the experience on every sailing fan's Bucket List will be auctioned in Auckland, New Zealand.

A ride aboard ORACLE TEAM USA's new AC72 catamaran will be open for bid, from the floor only, at a black tie dinner being staged to support two former America's Cup sailors, now suffering multiple sclerosis, and provide funding for their tilt at the 2016 Paralympics in the Sonar keelboat. The dinner and function is sponsored by ASB Bank and organised by http://www.ducoevents.co.nz/the-america-s-cup-gala-dinner!Duco_Events

The ride aboard the America's Cup Defender is just one of 11 Big Ticket items to go under the hammer in less than 24 hours time. Almost all the auction items have been put together exclusively for the event, some to be enjoyed in New Zealand and others on the West Coast of USA.

The full list of eleven Lots are displayed below.

As well as the auction, the Main Event will be addresses by Sir Russell Coutts, of ORACLE TEAM USA and Grant Dalton, of Emirates Team New Zealand. They will speak separately and then be joined in a question and answer session chaired by top international yachting commentator, Peter Montgomery.

Neither speaker is known for pulling their punches, and the joint session is expected to attract considerable international interest.

Eight hundred guests are expected to attend the black tie dinner.

To see the dinner website http://tinyurl.com/bvxsakj!click_here

For an earlier story on Barnes and Dodson's Paralympic campaign http://www.sail-world.com/index.cfm?nid=107904!click_here

For Sail-World.com's America's Cup Editor, Richard Gladwell's impression of a ride on Emirates Team NZ's AC72 http://www.sail-world.com/index.cfm?nid=103801!click_here