Peter Lester: Swiss smooth but Team NZ is top challenger

Having spent the last few days in Valencia watching act four of the America's Cup pre-regatta, it is clear the challengers have got a bit of work to do to reach the same level as Alinghi.

The Swiss look very smooth. I guess some of us thought they might be a bit vulnerable without Russell Coutts, but that is not what we are seeing. Against Emirates Team New Zealand, they had a sailing edge, given they won the pre-start, and I think their boat SUI75 had a speed edge over NZL82.

They have their boat beautifully balanced for the conditions here.

Team NZ should feel pretty happy with their efforts in this regatta. Coming second behind Alinghi means they are the top-placed challenger, which is a good result. However, like all the challengers, they will be a bit disappointed that Alinghi have an edge.

I have been impressed with Team NZ's crew work and the boat looks very reliable.

Starting is such a key area of the race. Previous cups have shown that 75 per cent of the races are won by the team who win the start and the first cross. It was a huge strength of Russell Coutts, and Alinghi's new helmsman Peter Holmberg is very comfortable there as well.

Dean Barker will be working on increasing his winning starts percentage.

This regatta has shown that there are still two divisions - Alinghi, Team NZ, Oracle, Team Luna Rossa - quite a way ahead of the rest.

Their crew work and ability to get the boat around the track reflects they have been in the game a long time.

Team Luna Rossa look quite good, but keep on having crew problems, such as trawling spinnakers. They have definitely stepped up in performance from what we saw in Auckland.

The big four all look similar in terms of new sails and rigs. Team New Zealand are a little different with their rig in that it has four spreaders instead of three.

The new design specifications appear to have made little difference to the speed of the boats - I am being told 4s a mile upwind and 8s a mile downwind. You are not going to pick that up with your naked eye.

As for the venue, it is still a bit of a construction site in terms of the bases, but you can see it is going to be pretty neat.

It is certainly very commercial. I just wonder, though, what is the main show? Is it the media circus and the bits and pieces going on around the racing or is it the racing itself? The talk is that the sailing is the sideshow.

To me it feels very Euro-centric. It is different to San Diego and very different to Auckland. The locals around here wouldn't have a clue what is going on. That may change in time, but I don't really think people will embrace the event like they did in Auckland. In fact, they will probably embrace it even less than they did in San Diego.

With the match-racing regatta now over, we head into a three-day fleet-racing regatta which I am really looking forward to. Twelve yachts on the startline at once. I can't wait.

* Peter Lester is a former America's Cup sailor