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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A favourite with New Zealanders in the last America's Cup, Italy's de Angelis has been world champion five times in different classes and was the first European skipper to win the Louis Vuitton Cup, in 2000.
"I think Francesco is a skilled and experienced big-boat sailor. He has not done much matchracing," Holmberg said.
"He is very good at driving the boat, getting the speed of the boat up. Obviously, this time they use Rod Davis as the starting helmsman.
"I think the level in the pre-starts is higher than it was last time. Prada were pretty much wiped out by Team New Zealand in that area."
Once de Angelis is at the wheel he joins Torben Grael and Matteo Plazzi to form a sturdy afterguard combination.
"I think they have a very good afterguard," Holmberg said. "They definitely have less matchracing experience than the other teams, but they sail the boat very smartly - finding the wind and using wind shifts.
"Sometimes they sail with a little bit more risk, but they are very clever."
Green said that under de Angelis, the crew-work was impeccable.
"Prada and OneWorld have the best crew-work on the course," Green said. "They are very sharp."
Presti added: "They won the challenger series last time and they know what it is about and what to do."
Since the dismissal of their head designer, Doug Peterson, the Prada boats ITA74 and ITA80 have undergone huge modifications and many believe Prada have a lot of untapped potential.
"There is a question about their boat speed, but their sail development is the best of any of the teams," Green said.
JUST THE FACTS
Name: Francesco de Angelis.
Position: Skipper/helmsman.
Date of birth: September 11, 1960.
Lives: Milan.
Status: Married with two children.
Sailing achievements: 2000 Prada challenge for America's Cup.
1995 Admirals Cup.
1995/1996 ILC40 world champion.
1989/1992 One-Ton world champion.
1987 J24 world champion.
Prada team 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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