3.45pm
Swiss challengers Alinghi became the first European team to win the America's Cup when they beat holders Team New Zealand by 45 seconds in the fifth race today to claim the series 5-0.
Alinghi led from start to finish in the six-leg, 18.5 nautical mile course on the Hauraki Gulf, a
fitting way to end a regatta they completely dominated.
The jubilant crew, led by syndicate head Ernesto Bertarelli and former New Zealand skipper Russell Coutts and tactician Brad Butterworth, hugged and sprayed champagne after they crossed the finish line.
Italian-born biotechnology billionaire Bertarelli's success came after some of Europe's richest men, from Sir Thomas Lipton to Baron Bich and fashion mogul Patrizio Bertelli, had tried and failed over the past 152 years.
The loss ended a disastrous defence for New Zealand, whose boat was clearly inferior.
Their campaign ended when the boat's spinnaker fouled on the fourth leg and the spinnaker pole snapped. The boat's dejected crew threw the shattered carbon fibre pole over the side and replaced it with a spare.
New Zealand had made small gains over the first three legs, but whatever hope they had floated away with the broken pole.
Team New Zealand failed to finish in two races -- unprecedented in Cup history. They pulled out on the first leg of race one on February 15 when their boat took on up to six tonnes of water, causing a chain reaction of gear breakages.
Crew errors handed Alinghi races two and three but then New Zealand's black NZL-82 boat was spectacularly dismasted on the third leg of race four on Friday.
Bertarelli's team won the Cup for a landlocked country better known for producing alpine skiers than sailors.
He has not yet decided where he will defend the Cup but has mentioned several Italian or French Mediterranean ports and Lisbon as possibilities.
Alinghi's win also ended one of the most acrimonious regattas of recent times.
The series was marked by anger over the loss of Coutts, Butterworth and four other key crew members to Bertarelli's team just weeks after New Zealand's successful 2000 Cup defence, a move treated as defections by some New Zealanders.
Bertarelli complained about the way his team were treated in New Zealand, even writing to Prime Minister Helen Clark last December to ask her to step in after members of his team received threats against their families that police are still investigating.
nzherald.co.nz/americascup
Racing schedule and results
3.45pm
Swiss challengers Alinghi became the first European team to win the America's Cup when they beat holders Team New Zealand by 45 seconds in the fifth race today to claim the series 5-0.
Alinghi led from start to finish in the six-leg, 18.5 nautical mile course on the Hauraki Gulf, a
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.