Dalton: It's like having your heart dug out by a spoon

A shattered Team New Zealand crew was reflecting today on what might have been after one of the most closely fought America's Cup matches in history.
The 5-2 scoreline in favour of Alinghi - sealed with an amazing one second victory this morning - hides the true story of a contest where no winning margin was more than 30 seconds.
Team NZ boss Grant Dalton expressed the painful combination of pride and disappointment that the team felt today.
"The guys have done an amazing job, and right now aren't feeling that sharp - it's been a long four years," Dalton said. "I am of course enormously proud of them but Alinghi did a better job than us.
He described the feeling of losing as being like having your heart "dug out with a spoon".
But he added: "We didn't come here to take part, we came here to win it and we haven't done that."
Skipper Dean Barker paid credit to his opponents, saying: "The guys at Alinghi are just doing it a little bit better at the moment."

Ernesto Bertarelli, Alinghi's president, conceded that Team New Zealand had been tough opponents and winning had been much harder than the 5-0 win in Auckland in 2003.
"I don't think anyone can remember a more exciting match. Every single race was unbelievable," Bertarelli said.
Auckland City Mayor Dick Hubbard pledged to hold a civic reception for Team New Zealand's yachtsmen, describing them as "winners and heroes" though they lost.
"Team NZ are still winners in terms of what they have done for New Zealand," he said. "I think this is just a setback."
The Government immediately committed $10m to allow another challenge to be mounted for the next America's Cup, which could be held in Spain as early as 2009.
However, Bertarelli said no announcement would be made for a couple of days.

Messages of support as Kiwis approach must-win race

7:00PM Tuesday July 03, 2007

Emirates Team New Zealand may be in an unenviable position as they take to the water in Valencia tonight, but well wishers from around the world continue to send their messages of support and encouragement.
Prime Minister Helen Clark said she was confident the Kiwis could come back: "Just focus on one race at a time, that's what worked in the Louis Vuiton Cup and steely determination can work here".
And leader of the Opposition, John Key, was equally convinced, saying "Go well, we all know you can win. All four million of us are right behind you".
Messages of support have flooded into the Herald online over the past two weeks and it seems most respondents have absolute confidence in the ability of Team New Zealand to fight back.
Many have spoken of the commitment and tenacity the New Zealand team has shown throughout the competition.
"When the going gets tough, the tough get going. Look forward to seeing the cup in Auckland," wrote TNZ supporter from Singapore.

Dalton: No one to blame for spinnaker tear

VALENCIA - A hole the size of a 20 cent coin did the damage for Team New Zealand in race five of the America's Cup in Valencia.
After such a promising start where they lead across the startline and round the first mark, disaster struck for Team New Zealand early in the first run.
A tiny tear in the spinnaker, which probably occurred during the hoist, appeared in a high pressure point.
Just as they were preparing to peel off to a new one, the giant red kite shredded, causing the black boat to depower.
Then with one ripped spinnaker, the second sail they were in the process of putting up then got tangled up forcing them to hoist a third one.
By the time they had recovered Alinghi had sailed past and out to a six boat length lead.
Alinghi won the race by 19 seconds and now have a 3-2 lead in the best of nine race series making tonight's race a must win for Team New Zealand.
Team New Zealand managing director Grant Dalton said no one was to blame for the incident.

"I don't know what you would have done anyway. It is one of those ones where you go kick the cat, go throw a few plates and kick a few walls in and move on.
"The fact is we ended up with a tear and if we had done the peel 20 second earlier it wouldn't have happened. This regatta is tight and you have to get it dead right. Right now Alinghi is getting it more right than us otherwise we would be 2-3. Winners are grinners and Alinghi didn't make any mistakes."
Dalton said the key for his side now is to put the loss behind them and go out and try and level it up.
"How you react to something like that is the key to how you go forward as a team. It is like a fork in the road or the defining moment. You can make it the defining moment but it's important that we don't do that, but just see it as a loss in the best of five and move forward.
"I think we always sail our best when we are relaxed and we were completely relaxed today. Dean [Barker] was masterful in the start, it was a planned move to not to dial so that is Dean at his best relaxed. That is important that we stay relaxed."
One aspect that came from the match was how even the boats were in the conditions which at 12 knots plus were expected to favour Alinghi.
"We were not expecting to go out there in over 12 knots and blow the doors off," Alinghi trimmer Simon Daubney said. "We knew the Team New Zealand boat was a good alround boat."
Daubney said his crew's performance wasn't exactly faultless today either.
"It is not going all smoothly on our boat as well. The pressure is on here. It is a very close contest .. one little mistake is costly and you don't want to be the guy that makes that mistake."
The conditions for race six tonight are similar with 12-14 knots expected.
Full coverage of the America's Cup from nzherald.co.nz/americascup and desktoptv.co.nz

Vengeance for Team NZ

Team New Zealand's series-levelling victory over Alinghi has allowed skipper Dean Barker to put the wind up Kiwi counterpart Brad Butterworth, clearly rattling the defector dubbed Mr America's Cup.

International sailing media have praised the Kiwis' 28-second victory - preventing a 5-0 finals clean sweep for the first time in 15 years - and are hailing a regatta that could go down to the wire.
The victory snapped Butterworth's 16-race winning streak in international sport's oldest contest and was the first step in avenging Team New Zealand's 2003 whitewash by Alinghi.
Barker "pounced" on Butterworth's mistake in tacking too late on a key beat and allowing Team New Zealand to take the lead halfway through the third leg, reported The Guardian.
Three-time cup winner Russell Coutts said Butterworth and Alinghi would be "kicking themselves" for letting the race slip.
"The key moment in the race was the bad attack by Alinghi. That was, quite frankly, a clanger and handed Team New Zealand the race two-thirds of the way up the final windward beat," he told London's Telegraph newspaper.
"They'll be kicking themselves because it should have been a race that they had easily in control."
But Coutts, Alinghi's skipper in 2003, still predicted a close final.
Barker and the Kiwis certainly did seem to get under Butterworth's skin at one stage of the race.
After surrendering the lead, Butterworth's on-boat microphone picked up his blue language in haranguing race officials for letting spectator craft get too close.
He later defended his use of the 'f'-word, which was beamed into millions of homes worldwide.
"There is no other vehicle to get my impressions across other than that microphone, so it's good to use it because you are listening and you can put some pressure on these wallys to get (the spectators) off the course," he said.
By contrast, Team New Zealand remained calm and composed after clinching victory.
Team boss Grant Dalton asked that the crew on board NZL92 keep a lid on their emotions after crossing the finish line.
"No man love," were the instructions overheard by TV microphones. The team will spend today's rest day lying low, preparing for the third race early tomorrow.
After the win, Economic Development Minister Trevor Mallard said from Valencia that the Government was confident it had already got a return "in spades" from its $34 million investment in Team New Zealand.
Each sailing success boosted New Zealand's tourism and business prospects.

GREG FORD in Valencia and KERI WELHAM - Fairfax Media

Yachting: Flip of coin goes Team NZ's way

5:00AM Saturday June 23, 2007By Julie Ash

Maybe it is a sign. Team New Zealand tactician Terry Hutchinson's lucky streak is back.
Hutchinson is often sent to the first press conferences because he usually wins the coin toss that decides which side the teams enter the start box from in the first race.
The starboard entry, which hands a team the right of way, is the side of choice.
Hutchinson lost out in the Louis Vuitton final but was back on track yesterday, successfully calling heads at the America's Cup skippers' press conference in Valencia.
The result saw him give his skipper a playful poke in the ribs.
In what was the last public outing for the teams ahead of race one tomorrow morning, the two skippers, Dean Barker and Brad Butterworth, looked relaxed.
Sitting in between them on the stage was the prize itself, the super shiny Auld Mug.
For Alinghi skipper Butterworth it is his fourth consecutive America's Cup match. "I just pinch myself every time I realise I am sailing these boats with these good people and are up against the great teams we have sailed against in the past. This is going to be as good as it has ever been. The two best teams in the sport are going out."

Butterworth said the mood in the Alinghi camp was "upbeat".
"We are all looking forward to the regatta. We are looking forward to racing. We have watched the Louis Vuitton Cup go past, now we can have a go ourselves."
Barker said Emirates Team NZ were looking forward to getting into the racing. "It seems like the Louis Vuitton Cup is a long time ago. We are happy just to have to opportunity to be in the America's Cup.
"We have worked hard in the past three or four years to get far. Now that we are here, we want to go out and do the absolute best we can."
Full coverage of the America's Cup from nzherald.co.nz/americascup and desktoptv.co.nz

Alinghi's Bertarelli hungry to keep the 'auld mug'

:45PM Saturday June 23, 2007

After four years of waiting, the Alinghi syndicate begins its America's Cup defence races overnight off Valencia.
The Swiss operation faces Team New Zealand following a tense build-up to this series.
Alinghi owner Ernesto Bertarelli says he is very hungry to keep the 'auld mug', because the Cup means a lot more than he ever thought it would. Bertarelli says after winning in New Zealand he was thoroughly drawn in to the game.
Skipper Dean Barker just wants the racing to start after the long and arduous preparation. He says the whole team worked hard over the last three years and now they are virtually at the start of the finals they are determined to do the best they possibly can.
Butterworth knows exactly what he will be facing. He has always believed Team New Zealand would be the challenger of record for the 32nd instalment of the Auld Mug.
While he is quietly confident the Swiss yacht, SUI100, has the pace to win, he knows Team New Zealand has also made good strides in its development. He says while Team New Zealand has the boat it has always had, the team made solid improvements to it during the Louis Vuitton series and that makes life a bit more difficult for Alinghi.
However, Butterworth maintains SUI100 is probably half a generation ahead of NZL92.