KEY POINTS:
Team New Zealand skipper Dean Barker backs his team's match racing skills should the America's Cup regatta come down to sailing rather than boat speed.
The first round of the Louis Vuitton Cup starts on Monday night (NZT). Two flights of five races will be held each day.
Emirates Team New Zealand face Mascalzone in the first race of the first flight and have a bye in second flight.
They will race their newest boat, NZL92, in the double round robin competition
Following their third place in last week's fleet racing regatta, Mascalzone Latino are now being tipped as semifinal contenders.
"It is an interesting start to the regatta," Barker said. "It is probably not the easiest race to start with. They sailed a very, very good fleet racing regatta. They have typically been very strong in the fleet racing regattas over the years."
Barker said last week's fleet racing regatta confirmed that "a lot of the boats out there are going around the same speed".
"That is a good thing because it means the match racing side is going to be more important and we back ourselves to be able to outsail most of these teams. That is one of our strengths and we have really got to capitalise on that."
The unsettled weather is expected to cause some headaches for the teams' afterguards throughout most of next weekend.
An unseasonal cold snap has brought rain, icy cold winds and unsettled seas.
"It is frustrating that it is not normal," Barker said. We have always geared up for the Valencia sea breeze type conditions but there has always been a chance that at this time of year it is not going to be quite in that settled period. And it's not.
"There is going to be one thing that is going to be certain and that is the conditions will never be what they are supposed to be at the time."
Team New Zealand will go for a light sail today and tomorrow.
Earlier in the week they had a second hitout against Alinghi.
Team New Zealand beat the Swiss syndicate 2-0 earlier this month but this week's two-race hitout resulted in a win each.
There has been some criticism of Team New Zealand's decision to race the defenders but sailing and operations manager Kevin Shoebridge argues that it is their best interests.
"The reason behind that being - to us really they are the form team, they have set the benchmark they have done since 2004 and we thought it wise to check in," Shoebridge said.
"To be honest it takes more than one race sometimes to figure stuff out. It often takes a few races against an opponent to get a true measure.
"We think we are doing what is right for this team. The whole America's Cup environment has changed and I think people forget that sometimes.
"In the past, sure, the defender was left by themselves for three years and the challengers stuck together but we have done 13 regattas against each other. It is a whole different event. We have got to do the right things and the correct steps that we think will improve us for the Louis Vuitton Cup."
Schedule
Flight One
Monday 11pm start
Team NZ v Mascalzone Latino
+39 Challenge v Areva Challenge
Team Germany v BMW Oracle Racing
Team Shosholoza v Victory Challenge
China Team v Luna Rossa
Bye: Desafio Espanol
Flight Two
Desafio Espanol v +39 Challenge
Mascalzone Latino v Areva Challenge
Team Germany v Team Shosholoza
China Team v BMW Oracle Racing
Victory Challenge v Luna Ross
Bye: Team NZ
