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Kiwis win Louis Vuitton Cup, set sights on Alinghi

Emirates Team New Zealand celebrate after beating Italy's Luna Rossa on the fifth day of racing in the final of the Louis Vuitton Cup off the coast of Valencia, Spain, on Wednesday. The Kiwis won the Louis Vuitton Cup, taking the fifth race in the best of nine series for a 5-0 whitewash of Luna Rossa. PHOTO: AFP

Emirates Team New Zealand is out to settle a score with defending champion Alinghi in the America's Cup.

The Kiwis completed a 5-0 sweep of Luna Rossa on Wednesday in the final of the Louis Vuitton Cup, giving Emirates Team New Zealand the right to challenge the Swiss boat for the Auld Mug.

The New Zealanders know what it's like to be outclassed 5-0. Four years ago, at home in Auckland, the Kiwis faced the same humiliation at the hands of Alinghi in the 2003 America's Cup.

"That was [a] bruising of our pride as a nation," said Dean Barker, the 34-year-old skipper of the Kiwi boat. "This is definitely huge for the team to come through and win the Louis Vuitton Cup."

Emirates Team New Zealand runner Tony Rae said meeting Alinghi again is a chance to settle "unfinished business."

"It's a great feeling that we can have another go at it," Rae said.

The stage was set for a rematch, starting June 23, after the Kiwis beat the Italian boat by 22 seconds in the fifth flight. Emirates Team New Zealand is the first team to go undefeated in the Louis Vuitton Cup in the 24-year history of the event.

Emirates Team New Zealand took the decisive lead near the top of the first marker, just as it has done throughout the series, and Luna Rossa was unable to catch up.

"We pushed as hard as we could, but it just wasn't enough. There were a lot of little things, but at the end of the day we were beaten by a team that sailed excellently," Luna Rossa helmsman James Spithill said.

The best-of-nine America's Cup series will feature a New Zealand team for the fourth straight time.

Four of the past six challengers series winners have gone on to win the Auld Mug, and Alinghi skipper Brad Butterworth said the Kiwis would be a difficult opponent.

"I think for years they've been the form team coming through the challenger regattas, so it's really not a big surprise," Butterworth said. "They have had the benefit of the Louis Vuitton series to get their game bigger and better, so they are a force to be reckoned with."

A big challenge for the Kiwis could be reproducing the same form when they start racing again in 17 days against Alinghi, which has dominated four years of Louis Vuitton Cup racing.

"Our goal now is to maintain the peak. That is really important," said Terry Hutchinsen, the US tactician aboard the New Zealand boat.
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