KEY POINTS:
America's Cup holder Alinghi claims they were told to remove the Maori sovereignty flag from their yacht, and are using the incident to launch a new war of words with Team New Zealand.
The removal of the flag - which may fly from the Auckland Harbour Bridge on Waitangi Day next year - has upset the Alinghi side, who say Team New Zealand are creating the impression that yachting is an "elitist, rich man's sport".
But Grant Dalton - who said he and his team had nothing to do with the removal of the flag - has accused the Swiss syndicate of mischief making and "trying to legitimise their role in the New Zealand psyche, once again".
Two New Zealand crewmen on Alinghi flew the flag from the syndicate's yacht on Waitangi Day, as the boat warmed up for racing in the Louis Vuitton series.
"It is a day to celebrate for us on Alinghi as New Zealanders and to celebrate our past and our forefathers," said crewman Dean Phipps, a former Team New Zealand member who is one-eighth Maori.
"It's a national thing to do. We have done it in the past - in Valencia on Waitangi Day we put up the Maori flag ... It was such a shame to have had it taken down.
"Being Waitangi Day, you'd think it would be relaxed, as the day was."
Phipps said Alinghi skipper Brad Butterworth's phone was "ringing hot" from the Louis Vuitton race committee before racing.
"It was like, 'you guys have proved your point - take it down'," said fellow Alinghi crewman Matt Mitchell, who has Ngai Tahu ancestry.
Race rules state yachts must fly their national flags for racing. Race director Peter Reggio said he had a conversation with Butterworth before the race, and the skipper advised him the flag was coming down. Reggio said he had never had a heated conversation with Butterworth in his life. "It was Waitangi Day, it was cool... It wasn't a problem."
But Phipps used the flag incident to take a swing at Team New Zealand and Dalton. "It's his regatta, they are running the event. They can pull the strings on what's said and what's not to be said, what's to be shown and what's not to be shown.
"There was a lot of disappointment for us having to take down the flag and I think they would have docked a point off us [if the flag was not removed]."
But Dalton said Alinghi was "making mischief". He said regatta rules clearly stated that syndicates had to fly their national flag for racing. He said there was no order - Alinghi would not have been able to race without the correct flag.
"If they had run any flag - one with a skull and crossbones - they would have been in breach of sailing rules which everybody has agreed to... I am not going to get involved in the cultural side of things because they are just the rules."
Last weekend, the Herald on Sunday revealed longtime yachting commentator Peter Montgomery had been ditched by TVNZ after Dalton requested he not be included in the commentary team for the Louis Vuitton series.
Phipps said a Maori boy, Jackson Campbell, was on board Alinghi on Waitangi Day. "Alinghi do respect Maoridom and the mana it has. I think it is lacking in the current Team New Zealand group.
"In 1996 when we came back after winning the cup we got together with the late Albie Pryor and some higher powers in Maoridom and tried to foster a Maoridom link to sailing which we did for a number of years from 1996 through to about 2000. But that all seems to have gone now."
He said the Team New Zealand regime had created the impression of sailing as "an elitist, rich man's sport. It's not what Peter Blake fostered in 1996."
Dalton denied this, pointing to his announcement last night of a new Team New Zealand programme with Ngati Whatua to involve more Maori children in sailing.
Dalton said he found it ironic "for a Swiss team to be having a crack at a New Zealand team on cultural sensitivities. This regatta is meant to be friendly and fun but this mischief making the other way is unnecessary".
Prime Minister John Key has asked Pita Sharples to look into the Maori flag flying on the Harbour Bridge on Waitangi Day next year, as well as the Beehive and Premier House.
