PRADA CUP FINAL DAY 1, MORNING BRIEFING

And while his comment was partly in jest, there are a couple of points that make it all the more poignant as the Italians and their opponents INEOS TEAM UK prepare to head into the first-to-seven win series that starts today.

Both teams know that this is a crucial event, a key step towards their ultimate goal. Win the PRADA Cup and their name will be included in an exclusive list of just 36 challengers in 170 years that have made it to the America’s Cup itself. And while entering this elite club is neither team’s ultimate goal, success here is an essential, crucial and significant step towards it.

Yet, for all the hundreds of thousands of hours and millions of dollars that have gone into planning their campaigns, dealing with the complex local conditions delivers an aspect of uncertainty for both teams.

Auckland’s weather is notoriously tricky to predict thanks to the complex land mass that surrounds the race course areas, as well as the effects of the surrounding ocean conditions. And as a high pressure system works its way over the North Island during the weekend, summer will return in force and with sea breezes that could boost or suppress the gradient winds.

In the lead up to this weekend the forecasts had been suggesting very light conditions, now the picture looks better with slightly stronger north easterly breezes in store starting at around 8-11kts and building to 14kts by the end of the afternoon.

Racing is anticipated to take place on Course A, out in the Hauraki Gulf.

So, deciding on the optimum configuration is going to be hard for the teams.

It has been easy to see how much both these teams have improved since their first races back in December last year. Both have upped their games considerably with more straight line speed and sure footed performances around the corners. But there is evidence to suggest that they have both smoothed out their performance profiles too, finding ways of spanning the previous gaps and hollows.

As a result of both technical developments and crew handling refinements, both teams have become slicker at adapting to a wider set of conditions. And as the knowledge as to how to increase performance develops, so the anxiety of being faced with the ‘wrong set of conditions’ starts to recede.

Yet no amount of preparation and development will take away the natural stress of the first day of the PRADA Cup final. Here, the tension is palpable whether you are on the water or ashore and whether you look at the forecasts or not.