KEY POINTS:
Team New Zealand tactician Terry Hutchinson says he can relate to the free-flowing style of his opponent Torben Grael.
Why? Because up until about a year ago it was a style he was not averse to applying himself.
Looking at Luna Rossa and Emirates Team New Zealand, it
is hard to find points of difference. Both have good boats, competent, aggressive helmsmen and in terms of crew work, both are pretty flawless around the track.
Which is reflected in the teams notching up a win over each other in the challenger series.
But tactically their philosophies differ.
Team New Zealand like to play the game close whereas Luna Rossa like to keep it loose.
The Italians' style is typical of tactician Grael, the most successful sailor in Olympic history, who tends to see the race course as his canvas.
Rather than keeping the game close like Hutchinson and Alinghi tactician Brad Butterworth tend to, Grael is not afraid to follow his instincts and separate from his opponents, whether he is ahead or behind.
The most memorable example is the 2.7km separation that developed during the fourth match of Luna Rossa's semifinal hitout with Oracle. Before the split, Luna Rossa was leading Oracle by three boat-lengths. When the boats met again at the top of the track, the lead was up to just over four boat-lengths.
It is a high-risk strategy. When it works, Grael comes out looking like a genius. When it doesn't, it is not pretty.
Team New Zealand, on the other hand, like to keep it close whether they are defending their lead or attacking.
The strategy lets them keep a rein on their opponent as both teams gain or lose ground together.
Hutchinson says the team have worked hard on sailing to a 20-second lead, maintaining it and being comfortable with it.
But Hutchinson says it wasn't always like that.
"The first year with Team New Zealand, we'd go buggering off into a corner and the guys on the boat would be biting their nails.
"Last year in some of the pre-regattas in Valencia I was pretty happy and slowly the guys have been showing me the way."
But that doesn't mean Hutchinson isn't prepared to back himself.
"I am always confident in the information I am getting, am always confident in myself and confident in the guys around me that when we make a decision the decision is going to be right."
In their round-one match, Team New Zealand allowed Luna Rossa to split away and it cost the New Zealanders.
"We learned our lesson in round robin one where we gave them an opportunity to split and the next time we came together we were bow to bow," Hutchinson says. "We went from leading the race, to being behind, to passing them to not being able to get ahead enough to do our penalty.
"In round two we did 33 tacks up the first beat, sailed a comfortable four-boat length lead the whole race and beat them by 35 seconds."
Hutchinson and Grael have a long history. Hutchinson squared off against Grael in the 2000 Louis Vuitton Cup final where Prada beat Hutchinson's America One 5-4.
When asked if he would rather be facing someone a little more conservative, Hutchinson is emphatic.
"No. Because what they are doing dictates what we are going to do to a certain extent, too. When you look at the semifinal, Oracle was happy to sail off to the opposite corner ... As long as we are in a position of control we will minimise the risk of losing control.
"If we are behind, and we are in a situation where we need to gain four or five lengths then you might see us do the same and split off."
Yachting commentator and former America's Cup tactician Peter Lester says the high-risk splitting strategy is often used when a team feel like they are on the back foot a bit.
"Going into that semi, where Oracle looked like they had a click of speed over Luna Rossa, Luna Rossa had to be aggressive if they wanted to win," Lester says.
"One of the ways of being aggressive is to sail your own race. As the semifinal progressed Luna Rossa changed and became quite conservative. By then Oracle were in disarray and Luna Rossa didn't need to play that game."
Against Team New Zealand, Lester expects Luna Rossa to play it quite tight.
"Their mindset has changed. They can actually play quite a conservative game, get bow ahead and get the first cross and win the match.
"If they get behind you might see them go back to taking risks."
