KEY POINTS:
Team New Zealand boss Grant Dalton denies he was bullied by Alinghi into dropping the lawsuit against the Swiss syndicate.
Team NZ are withdrawing their legal action against Alinghi, who had threatened to ban Emirates Team New Zealand from competing in the next America's Cup regatta if they did not discontinue their proceedings.
The Swiss gave Dalton a deadline of December 15 to drop their claim for financial compensation.
However, Dalton said his main motivation for withdrawing the legal action was to ensure the success of the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series in Auckland early next year.
Alinghi agreed to send a competitive team to Auckland if the legal proceedings were withdrawn.
"To us the success of the Louis Vuitton series is paramount," said Dalton.
"It's important for the fraternity of yachting at the moment, it's important for Auckland to get a big event out on the harbour, and it's important for us as a team."
Dalton said the opportunity created by the settlement to have Alinghi sail in the fledgling event was too great to pass up.
"For obvious reasons the regatta would not be the same without Alinghi's participation. For a start our sailing team would like nothing more than meeting [Brad] Butterworth and his team on Auckland Harbour in January-February," he said.
With Alinghi's commitment in place, the regatta is set to pit Kiwi sailors Russell Coutts of Oracle, Alinghi skipper Brad Butterworth and Team New Zealand's Dean Barker up against each other. Dalton believes it will be a hugely successful event.
"To have another regatta with Coutts, Butterworth and Barker racing in our own backyard is enormously important to us."
Dalton believes having all three teams in one place next year could ensure the America's Cup gets back on track for a 2010 event.
Alinghi still remain embroiled in a bitter legal dispute with Oracle, with the Golden Gate Yacht Club launching yet another appeal after a New York Court re-instated Spanish syndicate Club Nautico Espanol de Vela as the official challenger of record.
"The fact that we've settled and Alinghi are coming here and we're all going to race together, that gives it a chance to thaw and I hope it actually has effect," he said.
"The world's sick of the litigation, they really are, they don't understand it, it's all too hard and they're saying 'why can't they just go sailing?'. Well, we're trying to just go sailing."
The Louis Vuitton Pacific Series will take place from January 30 to February 14 next year. Twenty-three sailing teams have expressed an interest in competing and up to 12 teams can be accommodated.
The teams will be announced at a press conference in Paris on November 6.
