10.30am
GENEVA - Expectant fans of Swiss challengers Alinghi have converged on the Yacht Club of Geneva with the European team just one race away from winning the America's Cup.
Alinghi go into today's race against Team New Zealand with a 4-0 lead in the best-of-nine series.
The holders need to
win five straight races to prevent Alinghi claiming the 152-year-old Cup for Europe.
The exploits of the multinational Alinghi crew, skippered by New Zealander Russell Coutts, have swelled pride in the landlocked Alpine country, better known for producing skiing champions than yachtsmen.
"We are all crossing our fingers for what we hope will be the last regatta," Swiss Economy Minister Joseph Deiss told Swiss Television today.
"When you think about the prestige which the America's Cup represents, it is wonderful for a country several hundred kilometres from any ocean."
As Alinghi's sailors prepared to battle it out again on the Hauraki Gulf, Alec Tournier, Yacht Club of Geneva secretary-general, fielded media calls and put the final touches to a huge party that will stretch into early Saturday morning local time.
Bleary-eyed fans will be glued to giant screens at the posh club where Swiss biotech billionaire Ernesto Bertarelli launched the bid in September 2001, vowing to bring world sport's oldest trophy to Europe for the first time.
"Everybody is rather euphoric," Tournier told Reuters.
About 300 members will file past trophies awarded to Coutts, Bertarelli and German Olympic gold medallist Jochen Schuemann (Alinghi strategist and Coutts' back-up helmsman) to watch the regatta. They will dine on fish poached in lemon sauce, rice and creamed leeks.
Bertarelli has been a club member for more than 20 of his 37 years, where he rubs shoulders with other Geneva elite, including many wealthy private bankers with yachts on the lake.
At the Geneva headquarters of Swiss biotech company Serono, where Bertarelli is chief executive, employees and their families were holding a private party.
"We will keep the champagne in the cellar and bring it up only in the case of victory," Serono spokesman Marc Aubert said.
- REUTERS
Continuous coverage of today's America's Cup race will begin on nzherald.co.nz at 12.30pm.
Race 4: Pictures of the dismasting | Commentary
nzherald.co.nz/americascup
Racing schedule and results
10.30am
GENEVA - Expectant fans of Swiss challengers Alinghi have converged on the Yacht Club of Geneva with the European team just one race away from winning the America's Cup.
Alinghi go into today's race against Team New Zealand with a 4-0 lead in the best-of-nine series.
The holders need to
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