VALENCIA, Spain — America's Cup challenger New Zealand lost two tests at sea yesterday.

First it could not control its own sails. Then it was defeated by defending champion Alinghi.

The Swiss took a 3-2 lead with a 19-second victory in the fifth race of the best-of-nine series after a meltdown by the Kiwis on the second leg.

A spinnaker was blown to pieces. Its replacement sail went out of control and flapped from the mast top. The third sail twisted around itself and was unusable.

"I sympathize with those guys," Alinghi midbowman Curtis Blewett said. "A tear in the spinnaker is acceptable. But a poor recovery and just making a spectacle of it is not."

Emirates Team New Zealand's Grant Dalton said his team had to focus on today's sixth race.

"You go home, kick the cat, throw some plates at the wall, and just move on," Dalton said. "There is always a moment when the game changes, and from our point of view, it is important that we don't make today that day, or that moment."

The Kiwis have something to prove after the Swiss team took the Cup away from New Zealand in a 5-0 sweep in 2003.

At the start of the fifth race, it seemed the Kiwis might thrash the Swiss.

New Zealand skipper Dean Barker took Alinghi on an unusual game of cat and mouse through the fleet of spectator boats in the fight for starting position. The unorthodox tactic worked and Kiwi boat NZL92 crossed the start line ahead of the Swiss in SUI100.

The Swiss briefly took the lead, but the Kiwis kept gaining and were 12 seconds ahead at the first marker until their nautical nightmare began.

Kiwi strategist Ray Davies said there was a small tear in the spinnaker they had just hoisted, and the sail could not last. As Team New Zealand was about to hoist a replacement spinnaker, the old one blew out, sending a shock through the boat.

"There was a lot of noise from the spinnaker and sheets (ropes) flapping everywhere," said Davies.

Unlike other foresails, which are attached to the boat at the bow, spinnakers are flown — like kites — from three ropes, one at the top of the mast and two stretching forward from the rear of the boat.

But the new spinnaker was hoisted too soon, before the crew was in control of its ropes, so it uselessly streamed off the top of the mast like a long red pendant, forcing the crew to later cut it loose and let it fall into the sea.

Even worse, Alinghi was closing in fast, and with two spinnakers out of control the Kiwis didn't have enough ropes left to immediately raise a third spinnaker. When they did, the third spinnaker twisted around itself, stalling the Kiwis even more as they fought to free it and fill it with wind.

"Alinghi didn't make any mistakes, and won fair and square," Dalton said.