KEY POINTS:
Further squabbling between Alinghi and Team New Zealand has set the scene for a tense battle in the best-of-seven finals of the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series beginning today.
Alinghi confirmed their place in the finals after comprehensively dispatching BMWOracle 2-0 in the best-of-three challenger series yesterday, to set up an intriguing showdown with bitter rivals Team NZ.
A row erupted between the two camps after the Swiss team refused to race Team New Zealand in the second round robin last weekend.
The ill-feeling escalated yesterday when Alinghi lodged a protest over the format of the finals series.
Although the tension between the two teams is at an all-time high, Team New Zealand boss Grant Dalton is confident the Kiwis can keep their emotion in check during the best-of-seven finals.
"Those things are always a smaller deal internally than they are externally," said Dalton.
"We practised all that in Valencia, we have methods, as all teams do, of perfection execution, total focus and all those sorts of things, so our minds will definitely be on the job."
Alinghi's protests yesterday centred on a perceived inequity between the Team NZ boats, which will be used throughout the finals.
During the series there has been comment by some teams that there is a difference in speed between the two Team NZ boats NZL 92 and NZL 84, an opinion Alinghi skipper Brad Butterworth firmly holds.
However, Team New Zealand wanted to be able to sail a single boat during the finals series, which they would rebrand with their family of sponsors, rather than being subject to the mix of generic and team branding that has been used to date.
Although the Kiwis deny there are any differences in performance between the two boats, the idea of swapping boats after each race to take any potential inequality out of the equation was a fair enough request from Alinghi. But their methods in raising the protest were questionable. Rather than addressing the concerns behind closed doors, Alinghi appeared intent on showing their displeasure over the format of the finals in the most public forum.
The Swiss yesterday flew a protest flag in their final run home in their race against Oracle, once it was clear they had secured the win. It was definite gamesmanship from Alinghi, but their protest was premature.
After they came ashore, Alinghi's case was heard by an international jury, but the hearing was soon adjourned on the basis that the boats for the finals had not yet been allocated.
"Alinghi miscued completely," said Dalton. "They asked for redress on something that hadn't happened yet. If they drew NZL 92 then they didn't actually have a problem. So that was another own goal."
The matter was resolved during the official draw, with Alinghi's name pulled out of the bucket first, giving them the right to be able to choose which boat they wanted to sail for the finals. Predictably, Butterworth selected NZL 92 and declared the matter was over.
Likewise, Team New Zealand skipper Dean Barker was happy enough with the result.
"We didn't actually mind which boat we ended up on," said Barker.
"We know the boats probably better than anyone, well we hope we do, and all the testing that we've done in the past few years, and all the data we have shows the boats are very even, so we weren't opposed to sailing on either boat."
With Alinghi in impressive form over the latter stages of the regatta, Barker said his team have a huge challenge to overcome the red-hot Swiss, who thrashed Oracle by over a minute in yesterday's second race.
"We know they've been sailing very well and Alinghi have certainly proven their class over the last couple of days, so they'll be very tough."
