Sailing: Alinghi fury at Kiwi 'smear' campaign

Four down and with just one life left, the once all-conquering Team New Zealand were left hung out to dry by the weather yesterday as an attempt to run the fifth race of the America's Cup had to be abandoned as the breeze on the Hauraki Gulf again failed to co-operate.

Having had to put in an heroic overnight effort just to be on the racetrack after being cruelly dismasted in the fourth race, TNZ were already having to dig deep against an Alinghi team from Switzerland who have been as masterful as a challenger as their skipper, Russell Coutts, was in the same role for TNZ in 1995 and as defender at home in 2000.

It was Coutts' 41st birthday yesterday but today is another anniversary. It was on 2 March 2000 that he lifted the 152-year old trophy in triumph to the cheers of an adoring home crowd. This time the applause will be much more muted. There may be the sound of cow bells and the enthusiastic waving of some Swiss flags. But Coutts, along with his tactician Brad Butterworth, has been the object of a sustained campaign of hatred. The latest move is to have them thrown out as members of the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron, for whom they won the Cup.

But, as well as an internal feud that broke the heart of one of the best sailing teams the world has seen, it has been the gamble on an over-ambitious, poorly executed design and engineering programme that has caused TNZ's current demise. Conjuring a comeback is more than even the Black magic days could have fashioned.

Even the locals are becoming frustrated at the continual delay and there is a feeling, as there was in San Diego in 1995, that it is time for the Auld Mug to move on.

On board the boss of Alinghi, Ernesto Bertarelli's luxury yacht Vava, a representative of San Francisco's Golden Gate Yacht Club was waiting to hand to the commodore of the Société Nautique de Genève, through whom the Alinghi challenge was lodged, an immediate challenge for America's Cup XXXII. For Golden Gate read the beaten Louis Vuitton Cup finalist Larry Ellison and his Oracle syndicate. Likely venues in 2007 are still Portugal, Spain, France and Italy, in that order.

Stung by criticism of his management style, Peter Harrison, who put Britain back in the game after an absence of 16 years, repeated his hope that he would be able to mount another challenge. But his plan is for only limited spending for the first 18 months. He is keeping on a core design team, but has decided not only against the continuation of an America's Cup boat sailing programme but even a small sailing team to compete on the world match-racing circuit.

He intimated an intention to bring in a chief operating officer and a chief financial officer, but it is clear that, unless a big backer were to make a virtual takeover bid, Harrison wishes to keep the reins in his own hand and will try to find sponsorship partners. There is a strong feeling that, while Harrison enjoys being at the centre of a challenge, there is a need for a management shake-up, a strengthening of the design team, and continuity in the sailing/shore team. But Harrison has said that most will be allowed to develop other projects.

As a Cup in Europe is expected to attract even more than the nine challenge syndicates who made the pilgrimage to Auckland and Alinghi's defence protocol would sweep away any nationality restrictions on recruitment, Harrison is gambling. His team could be scattered on the winds of better and higher-paid offers.