Alinghi two Team New Zealand two, its going to be a thriller

After four days of intense racing honours are even here in Valencia. Wednesday's racing was the first under "normal" conditions, where a stable wind of 9-11 knots enabled the two teams to take part in a fair test of technology and seamanship. Alinghi made the best start and were able to hold off Team New Zealand throught out the rest of the race. The interesting point came two minutes after the end of the match, when Principal Race Officer Peter Reggio called the two teams on his VHF radio and asked them to carry out a specific operation. They were asked to pull down their main sail, without having someone up the mast to assist. Team New Zealand did this without a fuss but there is some debate to what happened on Alinghi, it appeared that a man was sent up the mast to aid. An official protest was made by Team New Zealand and is being held as I write 13:00 Thursday. The international rules committee has wide ranging powers but it is not known when the results will be known.