KEY POINTS:
When Alinghi and Team New Zealand line up in the America's Cup it is not only a rematch of the last cup but also a battle between two teams who have very similar sailing styles.
Both teams like to keep it close.
Alinghi trimmer Simon Daubney says he always knew it would be Team New Zealand they would be racing.
He said he thought Chris Dickson's Oracle and Team New Zealand would battle it out in the challenger series final then Team New Zealand would advance to the cup match.
"Those guys made it a no contest with Luna Rossa," Daubney said. "We thought it might have been a closer competition, but they either found another gear or upped it another gear.
"It is pretty impressive the way they put them away. They didn't give the Italians a look in.
"I understand the Italian boat was perceived to have had a problem tacking. You have got to be able to defend a one or two or three boat-length lead and the only way you can do that is to have confidence in your tacking. I was surprised about that."
Whether it is a Kiwi influence or not, Alinghi and Team New Zealand have similar styles.
"It seemed like Luna Rossa and Oracle were not happy with the lead unless it was five or six boat lengths," Daubney said.
"Where it seemed like Team New Zealand were quite happy with a one boat length lead or a half a boat length lead if they are coming in from the left-hand side and managing to get lee bows.
"A lot of their in-house races we have watched were close like that. That is the way that most of our in-house races end up as well, where we don't get the big splits and we do a lot of close boat-on-boat stuff."
Daubney said he noted some small changes to NZL92 in the final and wondered if they were a result of Team New Zealand's two losses to the Spanish team in the semifinals.
"I noticed a few changes in their set-up subsequent to that. I think they are probably going faster than they were."
Daubney said it was not possible to gauge the speed of the Alinghi boats to Team New Zealand's NZL92.
"The difference between the two teams is that we have done more testing and they have done more racing," he said.
"If we end up with a speed advantage that will be attributed to more emphasis on testing than they did. If we end up screwing up our crew work or going round the bottom mark with the spinnaker still up, we have probably put our emphasis in the wrong place.
"In the last few weeks we have been practising our crew work and doing our racing. It is pretty tough to watch these guys go out and have all these dress rehearsals."
Daubney said Team New Zealand's desire to right the wrongs from four years ago, where they were thumped 5-0, would not give them an edge.
"The support they have is fantastic, but as far as wanting to win it more we are all at the same level ... it is a sporting competition between two teams."
SIMON DAUBNEY
Born: July 17, 1959
Position: Genoa Trimmer
Cup History
2007: Alinghi
2003: Alinghi
2000: Team New Zealand
1995: Team New Zealand
1992: New Zealand Challenge
1987: New Zealand Challenge
