5:00AM Saturday June 23, 2007By Julie Ash
Maybe it is a sign. Team New Zealand tactician Terry Hutchinson's lucky streak is back.
Hutchinson is often sent to the first press conferences because he usually wins the coin toss that decides which side the teams enter the start box from in the first race.
The starboard entry, which hands a team the right of way, is the side of choice.
Hutchinson lost out in the Louis Vuitton final but was back on track yesterday, successfully calling heads at the America's Cup skippers' press conference in Valencia.
The result saw him give his skipper a playful poke in the ribs.
In what was the last public outing for the teams ahead of race one tomorrow morning, the two skippers, Dean Barker and Brad Butterworth, looked relaxed.
Sitting in between them on the stage was the prize itself, the super shiny Auld Mug.
For Alinghi skipper Butterworth it is his fourth consecutive America's Cup match. "I just pinch myself every time I realise I am sailing these boats with these good people and are up against the great teams we have sailed against in the past. This is going to be as good as it has ever been. The two best teams in the sport are going out."
Butterworth said the mood in the Alinghi camp was "upbeat".
"We are all looking forward to the regatta. We are looking forward to racing. We have watched the Louis Vuitton Cup go past, now we can have a go ourselves."
Barker said Emirates Team NZ were looking forward to getting into the racing. "It seems like the Louis Vuitton Cup is a long time ago. We are happy just to have to opportunity to be in the America's Cup.
"We have worked hard in the past three or four years to get far. Now that we are here, we want to go out and do the absolute best we can."
Full coverage of the America's Cup from nzherald.co.nz/americascup and desktoptv.co.nz
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