KEY POINTS:
Team New Zealand skipper Dean Barker accused Alinghi of "bad sportsmanship" after the America's Cup holders yesterday forfeited their race and Cup-style politics surfaced.
The America's Cup is renowned for intrigue and plots of Machiavellian intensity and Alinghi ensured the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series wouldn't escape controversy.
Alinghi were up to their old tricks, refusing to race Emirates Team New Zealand yesterday, arguing it was pointless with no competition points up for grabs. Races against the Kiwis don't carry points because Team NZ, as hosts, will contest next weekend's finals.
They also said they actually risked losing points if they incurred a penalty, as both Oracle and Origin did on Friday by bumping boats.
Team New Zealand were livid about Alinghi's stance in what they hoped would be an incident-free
regatta and started the race by themselves until it was officially black-flagged soon after they crossed the start line.
They had headed out on the water almost four hours earlier in the hope of racing but returned with little more than sunburn and bad moods after a stifling day on the Waitemata Harbour.
"I'm really disappointed they didn't front," Team New Zealand skipper Dean Barker said. "It's bad sportsmanship.
"It's detrimental to the event and detrimental to the sport of sailing and I'm very disappointed.
"The idea of this event is to have a good spectacle and to actually go yacht racing.
"If they had bothered to do the maths and backed themselves, they would have found they would have got through regardless.
"I don't think it does anything to help relations between the two teams. We have had a good, competitive rivalry and raced them in two America's Cups but what they have done today is hard to understand," said Barker.
Other yachting sources were less diplomatic. One called Alinghi "smart-arses" but said the move was also a calculated one - as it robbed Team NZ of the chance to test themselves against top opposition before the finals.
"It means," said another source, "that Team NZ could get to the finals with less tough racing than the challenger - and that's what Alinghi are doing. Most people will not know that Alinghi argued long and hard that all points would be counted and threatened to withdraw if they didn't."
The event had been dubbed by some as the "happy, friendly, smiley" regatta and chief protagonists Russell Coutts and Brad Butterworth were the happiest, friendliest and smiliest of all.
The pair had been on charm offensives even before racing started 10 days ago, with legal arms on the next America's Cup due to be taken up next week; the latest in 18 months of bitter courtroom battles. But all of that was thrown overboard yesterday.
Team NZ were also angry that Alinghi chose to make an issue about flying the Maori sovereignty flag, with team boss Grant Dalton angrily accusing the Swiss team of "mischief making" by claiming that he had told Alinghi to take the flag down. Dalton said he had done no such thing. Privately, the words coming from Team NZ were harsher, with "set-up" and "bullshit" prominent.
Alinghi issued a sugar-coated statement explaining their decision as Team New Zealand began their pre-start in a race that sadly lacked an opponent. The healthy spectator fleet that had amassed for what was meant to be the first race between the two syndicates who squared off for the last America's Cup might not have found it quite so sweet.
Alinghi helmsman Ed Baird said: "We are loving this event, the racing has been great and the summer conditions have been fantastic. It is great that we can all be back on the water together again.
"Normally we would jump at the chance to sail against Team New Zealand, as we have so many times in the past, so we are sorry to have to make this difficult strategic choice. The reality is that there is no upside for us and only bad things that can happen if we have any kind of incident or contact.
"As a group, we talked this through and decided that it didn't make sense to take that risk after the docking of points to both BMW Oracle Racing and TeamOrigin.
"It's clear that the event is serious about avoiding close incidents and if we are going to take a risk, it's going to be in a race that counts."
Alinghi initially denied they were planning to forfeit the race, saying they had stayed on shore because of the lengthy delays that marred yesterday's racing. But the wind moved in, forcing Alinghi to reveal their intention to withdraw.
Rumours of Alinghi's no-show first emerged yesterday morning and there were suggestions the race would be postponed because of "time constraints" and the fact it was the official party at the Orakei Yacht Club last night.
Race organisers even considered reinstating the points lost by Oracle (one point) and Team Origin (half a point) after their collision on Friday.
But the race jury found no reason to re-open the case, which alleviated the pressure on Alinghi to race.
Event organiser Bruno Trouble said there was nothing they could do to force Alinghi to race and that the same rules applied in the America's Cup.
"I am sorry for the situation but there's not much we can do," he said. "It's true they might have lost a point. The big clashes are still to come."
One of those could see Team New Zealand and Alinghi battle it out in the final and the Kiwis admitted they would love nothing more than to meet their old rivals to decide the regatta.
Both Oracle and Origin have given commitments they will race Team New Zealand in the next two days.
When racing did take place, Russell Coutts' Oracle maintained their unbeaten run in gold fleet with a comfortable win over Damiani Italia - sailed in light conditions.
After a lengthy delay and one abandoned attempt, Origin defeated Luna Rossa by only five seconds in a race sailed in gusty and tricky south-westerlies.
In the silver fleet, Greek Challenge beat Team Shosholoza and Team China beat K-Challenge.
- ADDITIONAL REPORTING: Paul Lewis
