KEY POINTS:
Yachting commentator Peter Lester said Team New Zealand's black boats looked "superb" when their skirts came off last night in Valencia.
For the first time in the America's Cup the 11 challengers and the defender Alinghi were forced to drop their skirts before racing started and leave them off until the completion of the regatta.
In a touch of Kiwiana, Emirates Team New Zealand's NZL84 has a buzzy bee painted on its bulb and NZL92 a New Zealand flag.
"The New Zealand boats look fantastic," Lester said.
"In terms of the keel, NZL84 has got a very long keel keel on it and NZL92 has got a shorter stubbier keel but it is still pretty long. What has impressed me about the boats is the whole presentation - they look superb.
"Hull form wise they are very full forward, very flat in the bow section. They are a bit different from everyone else."
However Lester said Alinghi, BMW Oracle Racing and Luna Rossa were equally impressive.
"Of the teams that have been doing well, you now get an understanding of why," Lester said.
'I guess what surprised is how different some of the A division boats are from each others, but they all have similar bits they want to use in terms of rudder options, fin options, bulb options."
He said the Alinghi and Oracle boats look similar. The Oracle boats are more rounded in sectional shape and the Luna Rossa boats are at the other end of the scale, and are more boxed.
Oracle's USA98 and USA87 revealed two similar underwater packages, except 98 had a long keel bulb, while 87 had a short bulb, signifying configurations for different wind conditions.
Michel Kermarec, who leads the appendages programme in BMW Oracle Racing, described his team's approach as a classical configuration one keel, one rudder, no big surprises.
"After the launch of the team's first new yacht, USA87, there was intense speculation about radical underwater arrangements. This was sparked mainly because our mast was positioned well forward.
"But, in fact, even though we have made changes to USA87, there never was anything but a standard keel and rudder configuration underneath."
Lester said Alinghi look to have created two good boats. Neither have anything radical but are modern in all their features. They had long keel bulbs, but some doubt they will remain. Lester said he was also impressed with Areva and Desafio Espanol.
"I liked the Spanish boat. It had nice attention to detail. The boat that has surprised me so far is Areva. They look to have a nice package."
