Boating New Zealand – April 2018

4 Boating New Zealand

Lawrence Schäffler

Editor

EDITOR’S NOTE

What a blast

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T

hey’ve been and gone – and are now racing south to the

high latitudes before turning east for Cape Horn. If the

Southern Ocean lives up to its reputation, they’re definitely

in for a blast.

I am, of course, talking about the Volvo Ocean Race boats, but the

‘blast’ I’m referring to is their two-week stop-over in Auckland.

Fun, colourful, wild. A fantastic, cosmopolitan flavour. Amazing

vibe. A rare, privileged insight into the lives of a group of mad men/

women – and their incredibly high-tech machines.

These are just some of the comments I’ve recorded from visitors

to the Race Village – sailors, power-boaters and landlubbers alike.

Auckland celebrated the event in style, even cooperating with

mostly superb weather – and it drew the crowds. VOR representatives

estimate more than 500,000 visitors descended on the Village. Being

part of it felt good. Really good. What a blast.

I’m also quietly celebrating the news – as I write – that Auckland

has been ranked the world’s third-best city for quality-of-living.

In a just-published survey by global recruitment consultancy

Mercer, 450 cities around the world were assessed across 39 factors

within 10 quality-of-living categories. Trafc gridlock, presumably,

wasn’t one of the considerations.

The survey’s conducted annually, and the City of Sails has scored

third for the fifth time – the last four in a row – and this year is behind

Vienna and Zurich.

I’ll concede to being a trifle biased, but I’m sure the organisers

of the Volvo Ocean Race didn’t need the survey to underscore their

decision to use Auckland as a stop-over base. Indeed, Karin Backlünd,

the event’s executive director, says her team considers Auckland the

“spiritual home of the Volvo Ocean Race.”

There is, of course, a valuable message in all of this for those

debating the layout and location of the base for the 2021 America’s Cup.

Please don’t cock it up.

Happy boating.