America's Cup: Flag warfare intensifies

NZ flags flying at Gibbs Hill Lighthouse overlooking the Great Sound. Photo / Dana Johannsen

The flag warfare has ramped up a notch in Bermuda, with Kiwi fans intensifying their efforts to deck the island out in New Zealand flags.

Ahead of the opening weekend of the America's Cup match, one keen Team New Zealand fan got up at 2am to deck out the lamp posts that line the road leading into the village with New Zealand fans.

The flags had mysteriously disappeared the following day, leading to accusations of sabotage by aggrieved Oracle Team USA supporters.

Undeterred, a covert operation overnight heading into the resumption of racing in the Cup match saw more than 80 flags put up along the road heading in from Somerset to the America's Cup village at the Royal Naval Dockyard.

The operation was said to have taken more than three hours.

The well-organised group of Team NZ fans were this time careful to install the flags higher up the lamp post.

The group also pulled off a major coup by getting a New Zealand flag raised at the Gibbs Hill Lighthouse - one of Bermuda's key landmarks - with the Lighthouse keeper happy to indulge the request of the passionate fans. It has since been taken down.

The Kiwi contingent at the America's Cup village appears to be growing, with many friends, wider family and supporters arriving over the last week as the Cup match reaches crunch point.