On a sunny weekend, thousands of people flock to a section of this port city's waterfront that seemed irredeemably run down and dirty until just a few years ago. The area, Western Viaduct wharf, was a jumble of crumbling docks, old warehouses, boat sheds and berths for fishing boats, dating from 1929.
Its main claim to fame for many years was to serve as a graveyard for Greenpeace's Rainbow Warrior flagship, sunk by French commandos in 1985 while it was tied to one of the docks during a break in the campaign to stop nuclear testing by France in the South Pacific.
Today, workers are putting the finishing touches on a new Viaduct harbor, while visitors gaze at the sleek lines of some of the world's most expensive and technologically advanced racing yachts as they are lifted gently out of the water by giant cranes.
There's a tang not just of salt, but of roasted coffee in the air. Since 1997, several hundred million dollars have been spent by the local government and the private sector to turn this area on the edge of Auckland into the first purpose-built village to support an America's Cup, with the racing syndicates, corporate sponsors, the media and the public all together in one venue.
"The America's Cup has been the impetus for this," said Anthony Thomas, the event director for America's Cup 2000, which is the official organizer of the competition for sport's oldest trophy. "If not for that, all this would not have happened."
Originally won from the British in 1851 by a yacht called America, the cup was successfully defended by the New York Yacht Club for 132 years — until 1983 when it was won by the Royal Perth Yacht Club of Australia. In 1987, the United States recaptured the cup and successfully defended it twice. But in 1995, the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron beat the American defender to bring the America's Cup to Auckland.
defending honor The 30th match for the cup begins on Feb. 19 and lasts until early March. Before that, there will be a series of races that start on Oct. 18 and end just before the cup competition begins, to find the strongest challenger to face the defending New Zealand yacht.
The preliminary races are for a trophy called the Louis Vuitton Cup. There are 13 entries representing eight nations: the United States, France, Italy, Japan, Spain, Switzerland, Australia and Russia. Of the 13 entries, five are American.
"Sir Peter Blake, the head of the defending New Zealand syndicate, wanted a real hub for the America's Cup in Auckland, so the public can see as much as possible and feel the excitement of what's happening," Thomas said. "Sir Peter spent two years trying to find the finances before he got the movers and shakers among the city elders to back his idea."
The pay-off is already evident in the crowds that come to the harbor to wander around, look at the yachts, and drink and eat in the sun. Thomas said that more than 65,000 tourists were expected to visit New Zealand for the cup challenge.
More important, perhaps, for a country a long way off the beaten tourist path is the extensive global coverage the yacht racing will get in the media, especially on television. "It's a huge bonus for tourism in New Zealand," Thomas said.
The really rich and famous have taken note. Sue Foley, public relations manager of America's Cup Village Ltd., which built and operates much of Viaduct harbor, said that of the 70 mooring spaces for super-yachts, 66 have already been booked for the regatta. "It will be the largest gathering of super-yachts in the southern hemisphere," she said. "Many of them are coming from the U.S. and Europe, with a few from Asia. Most will stay at least three months."
Super-yachts are luxury motor and sailing vessels more than 30 meters long. Some cost tens of millions of dollars. Only the super-rich can afford to build, operate and maintain such floating palaces. "Viaduct harbor has changed the face of Auckland," Foley said. "We didn't have a lively waterfront, which is ridiculous when we are called the City of Sails."
And like Sydney, Auckland has a magnificent waterfront location. The city stretches across an 11 kilometer-wide volcanic bridge of land dividing two harbors — the Waitemata to the east and the Manukau to the west. No wonder, then, that it has a higher number of sailing and other pleasure boats per capita than any other city in the world. More than 80,000 boats are owned privately within the Auckland region, about one per 11 residents — hence the name City of Sails.
YET Auckland lacked the kind of entertainment, living and cultural hub that Sydney had developed in the Rocks, near the famed Opera House, and in Darling Harbor. Now it has such a hub in the Viaduct, and Foley said that this was already acting as a catalyst for similar projects in nearby areas of the city's waterfront that are either rundown or the home of sunset industries.
"Whether we win or lose the America's Cup, Auckland has gained something of lasting value," she said.