SAILING: The rivalry between the Russell Coutts-led Alinghi crew and his countryman Chris Dickson and the Oracle-BMW Racing team paled to insignificance as the Swiss put in a flawless performance to win the opening race of the first-to-five final of the Louis Vuitton Cup.

The winners of the cup will sail against holders Team New Zealand in the 31st America's Cup from February 15th.

Alinghi picked their start perfectly to gain a lead that they never surrendered and finished almost a quarter of a mile ahead.

Coutts's win was so comprehensive that it bodes ill for Oracle, owned by the American billionaire Larry Ellison.

After a day's delay because of excess winds, Alinghi and Oracle entered the starting area five minutes before the gun and began jousting. Oracle took the left-hand line that both seemed to favour, but the tactic gave Alinghi the advantage of the right-of-way tack when the boats met.

When they did, Alinghi was a quarter of a length ahead and forced Oracle to tack, prompting Coutts to sail higher than he had been doing to put Dickson at a further disadvantage. Within 10 minutes of the start, Alinghi was three boat-lengths clear and sailing faster than Oracle.

After three miles in the 8 to 10 knot breeze Alinghi rounded the windward mark with a 47-second lead. As expected, Oracle proved faster on the downwind leg and closed to within 70 yards when Alinghi gybed away to the right.

"We went that way because of the wind," said the Alinghi afterguard member Jochen Schumann. "There was more that way."

Dickson scorned covering his rival and paid the price when Coutts picked up the extra breeze on his side of the course to further increase his lead by the finish. "We are disappointed to lose," said Dickson, "but we have a long series in front of us and still five races to win."

"This was one of the more relaxed races we've had so far, in previous races we've won we've always had our hearts in our mouths," experienced Alinghi crewman Simon Daubney said.

"Today's win means we can be happy with our boat speed and we get a bit of momentum for the rest of the racing," he said.

Dickson said at a pre-race briefing on Friday that he thought Oracle had improved significantly since the semi-finals and had a much faster boat, although there appeared to be little evidence of that against an impressive Alinghi.