KEY POINTS:
The Maori flag was flying from Alinghi's loft at Valencia yesterday. It is not clear what message it was intended to send to the Team New Zealand camp opposite, but let's take it as a sign of solidarity. The America's Cup holder is led and largely crewed by New Zealanders, and it is a fair bet they would like their countrymen to come through the long elimination series that started overnight.
But whichever challenger emerges from the Louis Vuitton series, it is likely to contain a good complement of Kiwis. If it is not - perish the thought - Dean Barker's boat, it is most likely to be Chris Dickson's or Luna Rossa with Tom Schnackenberg in the sailing team. Ten of the 12 challengers have New Zealanders on board. The prevailing accent around the America's Cup harbour is probably not Spanish.
Yet at home, we have not been much excited by the bid to recover the prize lost so ignominiously in Auckland four years ago. The memory of the defender taking on water at its first public outing still haunts us as another challenge goes to the starting line. In the circumstances it has been a remarkable feat for Grant Dalton's organisation to have come this far.
The Government deserves credit for committing finance for another bid as soon as the 2003 defence failed. It was not a popular decision. The country had had quite enough of the America's Cup after the desertion of its previous heroes and the complete failure of a much-hyped hull design. The cup had given us good times, and much to remember fondly when the disappointment faded, but those times, so we said, were unlikely to be repeated.
Not only has Dalton's team managed to raise the necessary finance for another challenge, but it goes to the line at Valencia with enough points from preliminary contests to be the top-ranked challenger. It has also beaten Alinghi twice in recent encounters, though not too much should be made of that. The syndicates have been racing against each other for several years, and have had the chance to copy competitive hulls. So the contest is expected to be decided more than ever by the sailors' performance.
It will take a few good performances on the water to rekindle the interest in New Zealand. But at least bitter experience has taught us to take all pre-regatta claims with a grain of salt. The wise heads who say Alinghi is a league ahead of all the challengers were probably saying the same thing of Team New Zealand this time in 2003. We remember the confidence with which we noticed the black boats slip quietly out for private practice while the visiting syndicates vied for the right to challenge. We had been told of the hula, the hull attachment that would make the difference. The Louis Vuitton contestants seemed like innocent prey as we waited for our prowling defender to pounce.
We are wiser now, counting no chickens until the last race is run. Let Emirates executives dream of a regatta in Dubai if Dalton's team take the cup. Auckland has a prior claim by contract, but there would be plenty of favours to spread around under the format now operating for the America's Cup.
In Valencia it is a distinctly European contest, with Spanish, German and three Italian challengers, and the Swiss defender. Only one American syndicate is there, skippered by a New Zealander. The America's Cup has changed a great deal from the tradition broken by Australia first, then New Zealand. It seems to have lost its old lustre and needs to recapture public imagination. But it remains the world's classiest yachting contest and New Zealanders dominate it. Whatever happens we can watch these nightly duels with some proprietary pride.
