Play nzherald.co.nz's rugby Pick the Score competition - go to: pickthescore.nzherald.co.nz
KEY POINTS:
In July 2007, Team New Zealand were standing in Valencia, fuming at the slight.
Team PR man Warren Douglas resembled an aubergine as his colour ranged high after hearing that Alinghi, successful defenders of the America's Cup, had decreed that Emirates Team New Zealand would attend a
loser's press conference as opposed to the traditional all-in affair.
Yesterday, at Auckland's Viaduct, you got the feeling that some of the deep wounds opened in Valencia - and, to be fair, in Auckland in 2003 - were healing.
There may still be sensitive scar tissue but the healing process has well and truly begun.
That was the overall triumph for the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series, won in emphatic style by Team New Zealand after a 3-0 sweep of yesterday's races, winning the best of five series against Alinghi 3-1.
It was hard to know who to feel better for - Team NZ skipper Dean Barker, tactician Ray Davies and a fine crew performance whose virtually faultless sailing carried NZL84 to 29s, 33s and 20s wins over Alinghi helmsman Ed Baird and skipper Brad Butterworth, or Louis Vuitton's Bruno
Trouble, the man who has made this regatta hum.
There was also a case for feeling good for Butterworth himself, regarded as a villain by many but whose speech accepting the challenger's trophy charmed those who stood 20 deep behind the Team NZ base watching the presentation.
"Team NZ has done a fantastic job. It's tough to run an event like this and look after the boats. We didn't quite perform today and they sailed incredibly well and it was exciting stuff," he said.
As he spoke, Butterworth's villain status for leaving Team NZ for Alinghi was highlighted by a man who called out a word that rhymes with 'banker'. He stopped, grinned at the crowd and said: "There's one in every crowd."
Another insult was hurled from the depths of the crowd. "Make that two in every crowd," said Butterworth.
For once, the Kiwi crowd laughed with Butterworth and it was a moment that signalled this was indeed the friendly regatta Team NZ boss Grant Dalton had spoken of, that the bitter divisions of the past may be receding a little even as the vexed court case in New York swings into its last, complex, dry arguments.
We shouldn't get too carried away. Dalton was still stony-faced when he and Butterworth (they will never be kissing cousins) shook hands and he worked in a crack about how hard it had been for Team NZ to make NZL84 go slow for the entire regatta - a jibe at Alinghi's fuss at sailing the finals in what they felt was the faster boat, NZL92.
But Butterworth must have noticed a thawing in the relationship with his home town. The LVPS was needed to help right the ship of America's Cup class yachting badly holed after all the legal eagle action, and it did.
Perhaps Barker was the greatest beneficiary. This was his biggest triumph in front of his home crowd and must have been satisfying to have beaten his old mentor, BMW Oracle's Russell Coutts, and his recent tormentor (Butterworth) in this regatta.
The reception he received from the crowd swelled into hoots of joy and prolonged applause and, for a sailor who has often been cast as the guy who doesn't win the big ones, it must have been intensely pleasing.
As he put it himself, "we seem to have a little bit more going for us in Louis Vuitton events" - a reference to winning the Louis Vuitton Cup for the challengers in Valencia but falling 5-2 to Alinghi in the America's Cup race.
"We sat down last night and figured out that we should keep doing things exactly as we were doing and at some points things would change," he said.
But had renowned hard man Dalton revved him up overnight? "Yup."
However, it was the manner of the victories which really said it all. Butterworth is a canny, intuitive sailor of the highest class and it is not easy to defeat him and a crack Alinghi crew. Barker was impeccable at the starts, although Baird gifted him one, but Team New Zealand sailed almost faultlessly - a big turnaround from the slightly conservative performance which saw them go down 1-0 to Alinghi on Friday.
So Team NZ had it all to do. In the second race, Barker made a perfect start, burying some mistakes in this phase in earlier stages of the regatta. Both yachts began well and seeking different sides of the course - but Team NZ were proved right and led narrowly into the first, all-important cross after taking the left-hand side of the course on the first beat.
They were out to a 45m lead after the next tack and Barker and Davies had their foot on the Alinghi throat and pressed harder by herding them out to the lay line and forcing them into extra tacks, rounding the top mark 21s ahead.
They then picked up a windshift to shoot out to 120m ahead on the downwind run, although Alinghi fought back to narrow the extended gap and the margin was the same around the bottom mark, 21s.
Heading out to the third mark, the Team NZ control did not waver, and they rounded the mark 33s ahead of Alinghi and then covered them perfectly to win by 30s.
It was an even more authoritative start by Barker in the third race. Alinghi copped a penalty for getting in Team NZ's way in the dial-up. Barker wrested control of the pre-start, pushing Alinghi close to the committee boat and also pushing them into a mistake not allowing enough clear water between the boats, resulting in Baird incurring a penalty and having to gybe.
That cost them dearly at the start, with Team NZ shooting away by 20s. They protected the favoured side of the course perhaps too much and Alinghi got back into the game, cutting the 90m lead down to almost nothing.
But the Team NZ tactics held sway, they took a 30s lead into the downwind run where Alinghi clawed back 7s to round the bottom mark 23s behind. Team NZ took matters back to 28s ahead on the second beat and surprisingly went into a gybe set, knowing that Alinghi still had to execute its penalty turn.
They succeeded only in turning a 140m advantage into 60m but Alinghi ran out of course when tying to haul themselves back, executed their penalty turn and were downed by 34s, putting them into a must-win scenario for the fourth race.
It never happened. Both boats made good starts, Alinghi heading to the left but the windshift they were looking for did not eventuate and Team New Zealand grabbed control again, forced the Swiss into extra tacks and they rounded the top mark 29s ahead.
Alinghi made a bit of a mess of their gybe set on the downwind run, Team NZ shot to an 180m lead and the sprint to the bottom mark saw the Swiss boat fill its sails with wind and they cut the lead to 15s around the second mark.
The lead was down to 69m but Team NZ slowly pulled away, 20s ahead at the top mark again and the run to the finish line saw no change.
