We’re Still Sailing

6 February 2009 – Auckland’s Louis Vuitton Pacific Cup is underway with two preliminary round robins leading up to a challenger final in which one team will advance to face Dean Barker’s Emirates Team New Zealand on February 13 and February 14 – the cup “an ideal tonic … for the many who have had their fill of litigation”, writes Christopher Clarey for the International Herald Tribune. “Just being here is a flashback to better times for the America’s Cup and the global economy. Here, as before, are the ocean currents and sea breeze generating whitecaps on the Hauraki Gulf with a fair-sized spectator fleet afloat. Here, as before, are the sailors and their public generating plenty of nocturnal energy in the watering holes and culinary hot spots of the Viaduct Basin. The trouble is, with the Cup in its 19th month of legal limbo and more oral arguments scheduled in the New York State Court of Appeals, it feels rather like a mirage.”