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Superyacht city: Who ll be watching America s Cup in style
9 minutes to read
Jane Phare is a senior business reporter for the New Zealand Heraldjane.phare@nzme.co.nz
A who s who of New Zealand s wealthy and corporate world will be hob-nobbing on superyachts during the America s Cup while others will pay thousands for a place on board. Jane Phare finds out who ll be out on the harbour and what it costs for a course-side seat.
It might not be the mega-glam America s Cup we were promised, but the big spenders trapped in New Zealand plan to make the most of a good thing.
“I grew up in the mountains so sailing was far from my mind,” Steffey said. “I kind of assumed it was a rich man’s sport. Then I came out here, to the City of Sails, and I tried it out, and realised it’s actually very attainable.” The pair started taking sailing lessons with the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron back in 2019, joining regular “rum races”. Then they chartered a boat for a week up in the Bay of Islands.
Supplied Within three months of taking up the hobby, they were “all in”, Kerchmar said. “We were looking at boats constantly, we were taking lessons, we were doing everything we could to practise. We were already starting to make a plan of how we could do this full-time.”