Kiwis to challenge Alinghi in America’s Cup
Team New Zealand have won the fifth consecutive race in the Louis Vuitton Cup and qualified for the final showdown against the Swiss syndicate Alinghi.
The Kiwis remained undefeated against Italy’s Luna Rossa in the best-of-nine competition off the Spanish city of Valencia. The America’s Cup is due to begin on June 23.
The Italians fought hard to stay in contention on Wednesday, catching up with the New Zealanders when they threw in a fake gybe on the first downwind leg and engaged in a long tacking duel back up to the top pin.
But time and again, Kiwi skipper Dean Barker sped up and pulled clear of the Luan Rossa challenge and on the final leg kept the advantage to cross the line 22 seconds ahead.
The usually reserved Kiwi crew finally jumped into each other’s arms, whooping and cheering.
“This is our ticket to the America’s Cup which is why we’re here, so it was a huge relief once we crossed the line,” said New Zealand trimmer Tony Rae.
The win sets up a rematch of the 2003 America’s Cup when two-time winner New Zealand lost sailing’s most prestigious prize to Alinghi, a debut challenger from landlocked Switzerland.
“They have had the benefit of the Louis Vuitton series to get their game bigger and better so they are a force to be reckoned with,” said Alinghi skipper and former New Zealand sailor Brad Butterworth.
Solid
After a vicious pre-start battle from New Zealand, Luna Rossa sprang out of the starting box to fight for their lives on Wednesday and moved ahead as they sped off to the right.
However, the Kiwis turned out to be the faster boat and they quickly caught up, stretched into the lead and turned the top mark 20 seconds ahead.
“It was really some performance by them,” said Luna Rossa helmsman James Spothill. “We worked as hard as we could but the way they sailed was really a solid performance. So credit to them.”
Alinghi coach Pierre-Yves Jorand says his team expects extremely tough matches with Team New Zealand for the best-of-nine series of the America’s Cup later this month.
“We can’t see any obvious weaknesses in the Team New Zealand. They are a strong and very solid crew who make no major mistakes,” he told swissinfo.
Preparation
It will be the fourth time in a row that Team New Zealand features in the competition for the Auld Mug.
“There isn’t an element of revenge,” said helmsman Barker about the rematch with the Swiss boat.
As for defender Alinghi, they are fine-tuning their two boats SUI91 and SUI100.
The Swiss won the local Desafio Espanional team as sparring partner ahead of the final series.
“It was very interesting to try a few things against the team that raced against the New Zealanders in the semi-finals of the Louis Vuitton Cup,” said Pierre-Yves Jorand with a smile on his face.
swissinfo with agencies
The inaugural race was held off the Isle of Wight in 1851. America dominated the race right up until 1983 when Australia won the trophy.
In 1995 New Zealand became only the third country to win the competition, successfully defending their title in 2000.
The Swiss syndicate Alinghi sailed to victory against Black Magic in 2003 and became the first European team to win the Auld Mug.
The 2007 America’s Cup off the coast of Spain is scheduled to take place from June 23 to July 7 at the latest.
Emirates Team New Zealand
Yacht club: Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron (Auckland)
Skipper: Dean Barker
Helmsmen: Dean Barker, Ben Ainslie
Team Alinghi
Yacht club: Geneva Nautical Society
Skipper: Brad Butterworth
Helmsmen: Ed Baird, Peter Holmberg
The team is made up of individuals from 21 countries.
In compliance with the JTI standards
More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.