Hard News: Actually, I've always been really into yacht racing
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This link turned up in Damian's thread, but it's relevant here too:
http://www.sportsfreak.co.nz/show-column.asp?ID=314
And now that I've enabled discussion I can stop sulking and wondering why nobody wanted to comment on my post ...
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I saw Garth George at Lynmall in the weekend. It reminded me of the fact that behind many a fuming, angry vile-spitting Opinion column, there's a tired, sad looking old man shuffling towards obscurity...
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bit negative today russell?
i quite like the america's cup. yeah, there's a lot of rich bastards, but its also a bunch of (mostly) kiwis who are competing at the cutting edge against the best that america and europe can throw at us. if you think about etnz as a business, they're doing pretty well in terms of management, design and sporting skills.
it'd be great if we win the cup back, if only to piss off all those euros moaning about NZ being so far away
wondering why nobody wanted to comment on my post ...
sometimes it seems to take a while for the "discuss" button to appear
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"The next public-spirited architect who proposes a "residential mix" for Auckland's waterfront can piss off. Building swanky apartments for your mates kills public space. Bah."
I can't comment on the Viaduct, but it's not always the case. There are some very swanky apartments that have just opened at Chaffers Dock in Wellington, surrounded by what's becoming some very good public space. It's having residential use or blank walls at ground level that kills public space, not what happens above.
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Rik,
I wonder if the Moet came from the sponsor of the Louis Vuitton, http://www.lvmh.com/.
ETNZ publicly celebrating with a NZ Methode would be a bit like having Roasted Addiqtion coffee at the next Great Blend wouldn't it?
An abnormally negative post from you today Russell? I suggest you blow the cobwebs out by turning up at RNZYS around 3:30pm today and get yourself on one of the boats doing the Friday rum-race to see first-hand what the local sailing scene is like.
Keep up the great work!
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Why did it have to be Moet? Couldn't Dean Barker and his crew have squirted each other with a good New Zealand bubbly?
Should have been Chardon. Good down-to-earth brew. get away from this elitist stuff.
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"Why did it have to be Moet? Couldn't Dean Barker and his crew have squirted each other with a good New Zealand bubbly? "
Food miles, of course: Reims is a lot closer to Valencia than Marlborough is.
"Pelorus, perhaps? Or even the Deutz."
I think the occasion called for Champagne. In New Zealand we make some very good sparkling wines (such as those you mention), but we do not, and by definition cannot, make Champagne.
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Emirates Team New Zealand
Two countries named there. One pays the money and calls the shots, the other is New Zealand. If they beat Alinghi, I think it's at least evens that the next America's Cup will be raced off Dubai.
On the water front:
Why is it a better land use for (very) rich wankers to have sheds to play boats in than for less rich wankers to have apartments? Most of the viaduct apartments have a walkway between them and the harbour - the cup bases do not.And as an Auckland apartment dweller, I'd remind everyone that each CBD worker living in town rather than the 'burbs is a car not clogging the roads every day. Some apartment blocks may be ugly, but motorways are a lot uglier.
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My husband wrote a message on the Alinghi website after reading a message posted by a NZ Alinghi team member. The NZer from Alinghi had written a big long piece of self-serving hypocritical anti-kiwi bile soaked invective. Up until then we had not been too-stoked with the likes of Brad Butterworth, Russell Coutts etc but hardly passionate opposers either.
All fired up (after a few beers...) he wrote a reply message on their website.
He has now found a selected passage of his message has been posted as follows;Hello,
Your really well suppported back home and highly respected for what your doing
Luv from NZLOL!!11
The selected piece unfortunately lacks context on its ownsome... is however providing source of much mirth amongst our group of friends...
agree with your comments Mark -
As others have said: Moet is OWNED by the company that ownes LV. Given that the world cup is trying to stop ANY advertising within a 3k radius of the wellington stadium, I can see how Moet gets their wine in there :)
Regardless - I thought Emerites said they were hosting the cup - if they win it - in Dubai....!?
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Oh I love the Americas Cup. I love it because it gives me sports points. It works like this. For every naff sport that I have no interest in watching, I can earn sports points by loudly and unsubtly commenting to my partner that it is (a) on and (b) I have absolutely no interest in watching it because I'm not a sports obsessed bore.
This also works for basketball, netball, hockey, Commonwealth Games and the Olympics amongst many others. Basically most sport that isn't football, rugby or cricket.
Then when we're deep in the middle of the Tri-Nations and the Black Caps are touring England and the English Premiership is about to start and I'm watching about 14 hours of sport per week I can always say 'Hey, at least I didn't watch that crappy yachting!'
Bless Dean Barker and his cherubic little face.
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On of the things about being in this part of the world is never seeing a mention of the Americas Cup...nowhere, not in the domestic media, not in the regional media, not in the international media. I was completely unaware of the current competition until I had emails from family members rather worked up...
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never seeing a mention of the Americas Cup...
well at least you don't have to hear peter montgomery's inane commentary. he comes up with the daftest, most cringeworthy crap. i think TV1 just like to have him there for the sound bites
what sports are the indonesians into?
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what sports are the indonesians into?
the same as the rest of the known universe...soccer...all year around...
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If, like Douglas Adams, you believe in the Fundamental Interconnectedness of All Things, you might appreciate the following:
1. Trevor Mallard, SOE Minister, is first up for the government on the Muliaga story.
2. Mallard is brushed aside by Clark.
3. Dunne gets big story in Herald, complaining about Clark.
4. After midnight, Team NZ win race. Late editions of Herald drop Dunne completely. The boat is on the front page.
5. Trevor Mallard, Americas Cup Minister, was on the boat.
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Actually here in Bali, the annual kite fighting competitions are a thing to see..hundreds of massive colourful kites from every village and workplace battling it out near Sanur and Tanalot in August / September. It's the big sporting event in the annual calendar.
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I had read somewhere that Emerates sponsorship of TNZ ends the day the last race is sailed, so the cup would never go to Dubai anyway.
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From the linked article:
But if you really feel the need to be seen to be supporting the “black boat”, rest assured that when you next fill up your car, a good portion of your money will end up in the pockets of the owners of this syndicate.Partly true anyway - the Dubaious have very little oil of their own but rely on Saudis and the like coming over the causeway for booze and hot chicks.
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There is alot of ground work being laid, ( reports commissioned, media spots etc), for the Cup to be split, with all the qualifying races being sailed somewhere other than Auckland (Dubai does seem to figure highly in such reports), and the quarter finals of the LV cup and the Amercia's cup being in Auckland,
They mutter things about Global event, interntional audience, we paid for it.....
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Expensive though. The yachts, crews and media would all need to go by air between the venues.
Oh - who just happens to own an airline??
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For the record, the sponsorship agreement doesnt include racing the AC in Dubai, although I note that Alinghi spent the winter there training because the wind is consistant and the same air temperature as Valencia in the summer.
Yacht racing is fun and any sport is boring if it doesnt click your buttons.
I think that Montgomery is like bad for real sailors but is the interface for folks that dont understand the complexity ( I just wish he did) . On a lighter note did anyone notice how he kept putting his hand on Cameron Dunns leg? and keeps touching John Cutler? -
From RB's linked story:
Still, some remained fooled; a $32m hand-out from the New Zealand taxpayer was forthcoming just to tide the syndicate over until real funding was available, and the search for benefactors started again.
How much did the whole campaign cost ie how much did Emirates kick in compared to NZ taxpayers? Where's our logo? I don't see newzealand.com anywhere.
They mutter things about Global event, international audience, we paid for it.....
Are you calling Mr Grigg a liar? As he points out:
On of the things about being in this part of the world is never seeing a mention of the Americas Cup...
I just got back from a week in Oz and there was nary a mention there either. Kiwi taxpayers have really been sold a pup on this one, because quite honestly it's not a global event. The world is unaware of yachting and it is of sod all cost/benefit to us really. (And I flew to Sydney on Emirates, first time too, and their economy service is waaay better than Qantas, which is waaaay better than AirNZ's)
And as an Auckland apartment dweller, I'd remind everyone that each CBD worker living in town rather than the 'burbs is a car not clogging the roads every day. Some apartment blocks may be ugly, but motorways are a lot uglier.
Hear hear! And as a former Viaduct apartment dweller might I also point out that I would wet my pants regularly laughing at how much taxpayers/ratepayers money was spent beautifying the Viaduct area in time for the Cup. Which was a very short timeframe actually but gee those apartments owners must be happy with the FORTY MILLION DOLLARS ratepayers paid for the paving of Market Place Square.
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For the record, the sponsorship agreement doesnt include racing the AC in Dubai, although I note that Alinghi spent the winter there training because the wind is consistant and the same air temperature as Valencia in the summer.
Yacht racing is fun and any sport is boring if it doesnt click your buttons.
I think that Montgomery is like bad for real sailors but is the interface for folks that dont understand the complexity ( I just wish he did) . On a lighter note did anyone notice how he kept putting his hand on Cameron Dunns leg? and keeps touching John Cutler? -
I like it when we win the America's Cup. I just don't watch it. I did see Dick Hubbard on the telly, was it last night?, talking about waiting until they find out about whether or not we win the America's Cup before starting to upgrade the waterfront. Miserable bastards. We need a waterfront like Wellington's with fabulous sculpture and other arty wonderful things. That's what makes a city on the edge - not more bloody motorways. Harrumph.
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And as an Auckland apartment dweller, I'd remind everyone that each CBD worker living in town rather than the 'burbs is a car not clogging the roads every day. Some apartment blocks may be ugly, but motorways are a lot uglier.
I dunno. I drove down past that enormous Lighter Quay thing (and its enormous sibling) last weekend and found it quite depressing that I couldn't see the water any more, even though it's only a few metres away. It's a much, much bigger block than the AC bases were. And the utter shambles in the old railyards area, which has completely cut off that part of the city from the sea, is just as depressing. Basically, the kind of people who buy or live in those apartments don't engage in a lot of streetlife. By comparison, the dreaded stadium - as a public space - seems like it would have been rather nice.
Auckland's such a mess. I still love it, but ...
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