Peter Reggio is the Principal Race Officer for the Louis Vuiton Series. By all accounts, he is doing a fantastic job, and unlike many other characters involve with the AC, it is hard to find a bad word said about him. Our gal on the spot, Laurie Fullerton, caught up with peter and filed this story. - Ed

By Laurie Fullerton

A typical race day for Principal Race Officer for the Louis Vuitton Cup, Peter Reggio, 53, begins at 4:30 a.m. when he starts looking at the weather on the Hauraki Gulf. Judging the weather on this mile wide isthmus where two of the world's largest oceans, the Tasman Sea and the Pacific Ocean meet - is clearly not a one-man job but as PRO, Reggio has to anticipate the possibility of cancelling, postponements or delays early on in the day. The weather in Auckland is completely changeable and it continues to frustrate event organizers as much as it intrigues and beguiles weather junkies.

By 6 a.m., Reggio starts making phone calls to the various weather teams who are monitoring weather on the gulf, and after checking in with his team, he posts the notice of race by 7:30 a.m.

By 8:30 a.m. Reggio and an entire team of race committee volunteers, (there are 250 volunteers in all mostly from around Auckland), the weather team, umpires, and on the water drivers, meet at the Buckland Beach Yacht Club just outside of Auckland. By 9:30 a.m., they choose the course. The race committee sets up about an hour and a half before the start and basically try and get a race off.

"The Hauraki Gulf was described by one sailor as a minefield, and that was a great description," he said. "It changes, and even our tried and true Blue Circle turned into a nightmare during the semi-finals. The gulf not only has the meeting of the Tasman and the Pacific, it is also full of islands, headlands, and peninsulas. The breeze here is so weird, so difficult."

When asked if it is significant that the three remaining skippers in this event are local boys, Russell Coutts, Chris Dickson and Dean Barker, and might understand the perplexities of the Hauraki Gulf better than others, Reggio says "On any given day, a little local knowledge might help. But, those three are that good that they would do well anywhere."

Reggio, who grew up in Oyster Bay, Long Island but has lived in Essex, Connecticut for the past 30 years, said his first major sailing event in race management was in 1978 when he began working on NOOD regattas around the country. "The NOODs are still very important to me and I think the nine NOOD events are special. I make a point of doing one or two major events each year."

Reggio has been running events from the Finn Gold Cup to the Etchells Worlds and many events in between since then. He was involved in the 1995 America's Cup in San Diego, and after working as assistant PRO during the 2000 America's Cup in Auckland he decided to send a resume to the CORM (Challenger of Record Management). He said he was pleasantly surprised that he was offered the PRO job.

"There are very few of us in the world who get paid to do this," Reggio said. "I am very, very lucky to do what I do. I do what I love and get paid to do that."

Reggio says he feels that he is part of the new wave of race committee or race management who keep the lanes of communication open between sailors and the committee.

"For years, the race management and the sailors were in an adversarial relationship. The whole point is we should have them tell us what they want if they think it's the right thing to do. You can't make something like sailing, which is multi-dimensional into a two dimensional thing."

What that means in the Louis Vuitton Cup is that the race committee and the sailors, particularly the after guard, talk constantly before the race. He notes that the skippers and teams are "under extreme pressure and they have their issues but we have a great relationship with the teams. Communication is the whole deal."

Reggio says that the teams give the race committee important input before the racing begins.

"They tell me about what they see on the race course, and that information helps us. We are all trying to accomplish the same thing. We do a lot of talking after the race is over, too. We are out there on the water so much, we all know each other. Reggio notes that the sailors are friends, and there is a lot of good-humoured banter going on before the races.

"I guess the event takes a lot of knocks and externally it looks like a morass of rules but there are a lot of really great people here," he said. "This event brings people together in this fish bowl and allows them to sail. It still is so different than anything I have ever seen."

Reggio, like everyone else involved in the event, has certain opinions about the next location of the America's Cup. While he remains reluctant to say, he notes "it would probably be good for the Cup if it goes to Europe. But, I think it is so unique here. It's great. I love it. I remember in 2000 I met a little old lady wearing a house smock living miles outside of Auckland and who had never been sailing before in her life and she asked, "so what is the deal with Dennis' rudder? I think New Zealand needs the America's Cup more than Europe does."

01/14/2003