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Swiss Alinghi sails into the history books

Alinghi syndicate head Ernesto Bertarelli kisses the America's Cup as he celebrates with his teammates after defeating defenders Team New Zealand by 45 seconds in race five to win the trophy on Auckland's Hauraki Gulf yesterday. Swiss challengers Alinghi became the first European team to win the America's Cup. PHOTO: REUTERS

Swiss biotech billionaire Ernesto Bertarelli grabbed the America's Cup and tossed it onto his shoulder, celebrating a remarkable win for a country without an ocean.

Landlocked Switzerland did what so many other European nations failed to do -- bring sailing's biggest prize to the continent for the first time in the silver trophy's 152-year history.

Alinghi clinched the five-race sweep with a 45-second victory yesterday over hard-luck Team New Zealand, the two-time defending champion. Dominating the series with a crew full of New Zealanders who'd been branded as traitors, skipper Russell Coutts took the cup away from the country he brought it to in 1995.

"Switzerland -- who would have thought, the America's Cup," said Bertarelli, the 37-year-old who funded Alinghi and sailed as its navigator.

"So if we can put it on top of the Matterhorn, we will do that."

Several European tycoons tried over 15 decades to take back the trophy that the yacht America won by beating a fleet of British schooners around the Isle of Wight in 1851. Bertarelli was the one who finally succeeded, after scooping up the best Kiwi sailors his money could buy.

With no coastline, the Swiss will have to defend the oldest trophy in international sports elsewhere in Europe, probably in 2007 and somewhere on the Mediterranean or Atlantic.

That's fine with Bertarelli. He's just ecstatic that his team will take home the old silver jug to the Geneva Nautical Society, a yacht club on Lake Geneva.

"For me, the fact that Switzerland wins the America's Cup is a sign of hope for a lot of people," Bertarelli said. "It really says to the world that the impossible doesn't exist."

On a perfect day on the Hauraki Gulf, between Rangitoto and Tiritiri Matangi islands, Coutts again outsailed his former protege, Dean Barker, and led the entire race.

"I am a New Zealander. Make no bones about that," Coutts said during the champagne-splashed tow back to port. "But I am immensely proud of what we've achieved. It's been a lot of hard work for me, and as a professional sailor, frankly, I'm proud of what I've done."

Before a quiet crowd of New Zealanders at the waterfront presentation, Bertarelli was the first to hoist the America's Cup. He passed it around to his raucous crewmen while Coutts sprayed champagne. Coutts didn't touch the cup at the ceremony, but he shook hands with the Kiwi crew and later talked quietly with Team New Zealand executive director Ross Blackman. Later, Coutts was tossed into the water.

Bertarelli started the celebration a few hundred meters from the finish. He touched fists with tactician Brad Butterworth and shook hands with German-born strategist Jochen Schuemann, a three-time Olympic gold medalist.

The champagne arrived moments after the finish, and Alinghi's crew hoisted a banner showing the America's Cup atop the Matterhorn, with the saying: "We did it!!!" They also hoisted a broom to celebrate the sweep. Supporters clanged cowbells and waved red-and-white Swiss flags.

When the yachts converged on opposite tacks for the first time, Coutts crossed ahead and immediately tacked in front of the Kiwis, a "slam dunk" that established control they never relinquished in the six-leg, 18.5-nautical-mile course.
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