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KEY POINTS:
It had been billed as the Friendly Regatta.
The Louis Vuitton Pacific Series was an opportunity for syndicates to put the traumas of the past 18 months of America's Cup feuding behind them and get back on the water in an open and friendly atmosphere.
But the gamesmanship
and politicking that has become inevitable with America's Cup syndicates reared its ugly head when Alinghi forfeited their eagerly awaited clash against Emirates Team New Zealand on Saturday. It was an extraordinary move from the Swiss team, considering the lengths Brad Butterworth and his crew had gone to to try to win over the New Zealand public since their arrival in Auckland.
All the goodwill Alinghi had generated through their "charm offensive" was thrown overboard with their refusal to race the Kiwis.
The match had been hyped up as the biggest race of the regatta so far, and the huge spectator fleet assembled on the Waitemata to witness the first showdown between the two syndicates since July 2007 were left bitterly disappointed by Alinghi's no-show.
Alinghi's explanation was that the race was meaningless, as no competition points were on offer, and said the risk of incurring penalty points in the race was too great.
With Team New Zealand guaranteed a place in next weekend's finals, races against the Kiwis don't carry any points.
The rule was put in place to prevent Team New Zealand from being accused of stacking the deck in their favour if they were to drop races against the lesser-fancied teams in the gold fleet.
But Alinghi argued it was unfair that they couldn't have won any points, yet they could have been deducted points if there was contact between the boats during the race.
One underlying implication was that Team New Zealand would try to manufacture a collision with Alinghi so the Swiss could be docked points.
Ironically, the format of the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series strongly parallels that of the proposed structure for the 33rd America's Cup, where the defender takes part in the challenger series.
In effect, all Alinghi have done is highlight the shortcomings of their own system by creating an extension of the argument that the defenders can unfairly affect the outcome of the challenger series.
Forfeiting Saturday's race was certainly at odds with the spirit of the regatta, but Alinghi's claims that Team New Zealand boss Grant Dalton insisted the Swiss remove the Maori sovereignty flag from their stern on Waitangi Day dealt an ever bigger blow to the two syndicates' fragile relations.
The rules state for recognition purposes teams must fly their national flags during races, and the race committee reminded Alinghi of those rules shortly before Friday's match. Alinghi's assertions Team New Zealand were behind the move was a further example of their mean-spirited PR campaign.
