Alinghi line up against Oracle BMW Racing and Prada race OneWorld in the much-awaited semifinals of the Louis Vuitton challenger series from Monday.
While both clashes are expected to go down to the wire, we asked helmsmen Magnus Holmberg (Victory Challenge), Philippe Presti (Le Defi Areva) and GBR Challenge (Andy Green)
their opinions on the top four skippers - Alinghi's Russell Coutts, Oracle's Chris Dickson, Prada's Francesco de Angelis and OneWorld's Peter Gilmour.
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Coutts is the most successful sailor of the past two decades, winning an Olympic Finn gold medal in 1984 and the America's Cup in 1995, and defending the cup in 2000.
"He is the man," Green said. "No one has defended the America's Cup outside the United States. Russell has set the benchmark and you look at him to learn.
"He is pretty calm, probably because he has been there and done that. We only really saw the Alinghi team get flustered in one of their races, against Prada in the quarter-finals."
Green believes there is still more to come from the Swiss.
"Alinghi have a bit more to give. They are reasonably regimented and they have a logical development plan for their campaign."
Presti said: "Russell's a legend. You can't separate him and Brad [Butterworth].
"When you look at the Alinghi team they have a good core of guys that have a long history together.
"When you sail against Peter Holmberg you get the feeling that anything could happen, but not with Russell. He has a very good feeling about his boat and does the basics well.
"They are aggressive, but not as aggressive as Peter Holmberg.
"Russell's strength is that he has a very good team around him."
Magnus Holmberg said the knowledge Coutts had from winning and defending the America's Cup was invaluable.
"Certainly, he won't be satisfied unless he wins it again. His drive and confidence is high. He has been on top of this game for nearly 10 years.
"I think he was probably a lot more aggressive when he was younger. He has got a bit less aggressive in recent years. He is playing it smart, but not taking really big risks. "There is a lot of experience in that campaign in all aspects - design, weather, sailing team.
"Their boat is not as radical as Oracle's, but not as conservative as OneWorld's.
"A lot will depend on the performance of their second boat.
"But even if Oracle win this series, I can see Alinghi winning the challenger series."
JUST THE FACTS
Name: Russell Coutts.
Position: Executive director/skipper/helmsman.
Date of birth: March 1, 1962.
Lives: Geneva.
Status: Married with two children.
Sailing achievements:
2000 Team New Zealand defence of the America's Cup.
1995 Team New Zealand winner of the America's Cup.
1996 World matchracing champion.
1994 Ranked No 1 on world matchracing circuit.
1993 World matchracing champion.
1992 World matchracing champion.
1984 Olympic Finn-class gold medallist.
1981 Finn-class world champion.
Team Alinghi profile
nzherald.co.nz/americascup
Racing schedule, results and standings
Alinghi line up against Oracle BMW Racing and Prada race OneWorld in the much-awaited semifinals of the Louis Vuitton challenger series from Monday.
While both clashes are expected to go down to the wire, we asked helmsmen Magnus Holmberg (Victory Challenge), Philippe Presti (Le Defi Areva) and GBR Challenge (Andy Green)
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