THE CUP RETURNS TO EUROPE

Alinghi brought the Cup to Europe for the first time since the original race in 1851 and selected Valencia, Spain as the venue. Eleven challengers contested the selection trials with Emirates Team New Zealand coming through to challenge Alinghi and the Match itself saw the Kiwis take a 2-1 advantage before a clean sweep of races from the ace afterguard of Ed Baird, Juan Vila and Brad Butterworth ended with the Swiss defending 5-2.