Team New Zealand have begun preparations for Valencia 2009

VALENCIA - Team New Zealand are preparing for the next America’s Cup yachting regatta in Valencia in 2009, despite the fact that the venue and date might not be confirmed for another six months.

The protocol for the next regatta was released overnight, and a key point was the introduction of a new class of bigger boats with an overall length of 27.5m compared with the present 24m.

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Alingi Have Beaten Team New Zealand by 1 second To Retain The America's cup

Swiss syndicate Alinghi were smiling after they won a thrilling 5-2 series win over Team New Zealand.

In the seventh and final race both boats crept over the line with Alinghi winning by a margin of one second, the closest ever margin of victory in the 156-year-old Americas Cup competition.

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Team New Zealand's Spinnaker ripped causing them a loss in race 5

After leading by 12 seconds at the top mark Team New Zealands hopes were dashed after a ripped spinnaker. Apart from this ripped spinnaker debacle Team New Zealand appears to have an edge over Alingi - after they recovered they made significant inroads into Alingi’s lead.

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Valencia has been questioned as a sailing venue by Alingi

Alingi have no right to complain about the sailing conditions at Valencia.  They chose the place and besides, you never get the perfect conditions in any sport.

This competition should be all about who’s the best in any sailing conditions.  Not just who’s got the best flimsy piece of carbon fibre designed in the most aerodynamic way possible.

Alingi’s complaint about Valencia are akin to a formula one racing team complaining that the track is not perfectly straight and therefore our car which is the fastest in a perfectly straight line cannot use this advantage.

Valencia is fine as far as sailing conditions go.