Alinghi on course

Alinghi is on four match points to finish the Louis Vuitton Cup, the steppingstone to the America's Cup. The Swiss challenger, skippered by Russell Coutts, is 4-1 up in the best-of-nine final against the Oracle-BMW Racing team from San Francisco, skippered by Chris Dickson.

Both skippers are New Zealanders but there the similarity ends. Coutts won the America's Cup for New Zealand in 1995 and successfully defended it three years ago. When he defected to Switzerland along with several of his crewmen, he was publicly reviled by a number of Kiwi activists and hounded by the BlackHeart campaign that called them traitors.

Dickson was the blue-eyed boy for much of New Zealand's first challenge in 1987 before being beaten by Dennis Conner for the right to challenge for the America's Cup. Following that defeat, he was dropped from the official Kiwi challenge but made his own in 1995, reaching the semi-finals.

Now the two Kiwis face up for the opportunity to remove New Zealand's most cherished sporting trophy from their native land.

The weather may provide the answer since Dickson's Oracle-BMW Racing is quicker in light winds and flat water and has shown to be faster than Alinghi on the downwind legs. The high pressure system over the Tasman Sea could provide ideal conditions for Dickson to mount a comeback.