After weeks of preliminary races and thousands of hours of research and development, the final of the Louis Vuitton Cup gets under way today in Valencia with my Emirates Team New Zealand crew-mates taking on Luna Rossa, of Italy, over a best-of-nine series for the right to challenge Alinghi for the America’s Cup.

After the extremely testing conditions that we faced in the last race of our semi-final, we will be hoping for something a bit kinder today. In that last semi-final, against DesafÍo Espanyol, the wind was gusting up to 22 knots, while the waves were short and steep, making life extremely hard for both crews. In these conditions, it’s as much about seamanship as it is about starting ability or tactical genius.

Having said that, Dean Barker, the ETNZ skipper whom I understudy, took control of Karol Jablonski, his opponent, to win the start comfortably. The countless hours of sailing and testing we did down in Auckland, where the wind is typically strong, then began to pay off. It was like any other day for the Kiwi boat, while the Spanish had to bring out the bailers to counter the amount of water coming on board. The New Zealand boat sailed away to a comfortable win and took the series 5-2.

Luna Rossa will be tough opponents in the final. The way they crushed BMW Oracle in the semi-finals was spectacular, although it was tighter than the 5-1 scoreline suggests. Oracle had a slight edge in speed but Luna Rossa more than outweighed this through brilliant starting, decisive tactical calls and great crew work. James Spithill, the Luna Rossa helmsman, showed why he is regarded as the man to beat around the start line by consistently outmanoeuvring Chris Dickson, of Oracle. The defeat of Oracle is a stark reminder that it doesn’t matter how big your budget is (Oracle spent about £100 million), you need a strong team unity and you need to focus on the most crucial factors to make the boat go fast.

I expect the boat speeds between ETNZ and Luna Rossa to be pretty even. Luna Rossa’s tactician, Torben Grael, of Brazil, is one of the most talented sailors in the world, with five Olympic medals. Torben’s style is very loose, which is uncommon in match racing but so far he and his team have played the wind superbly. In contrast, Terry Hutchinson, our tactician at ETNZ, is much more traditional, taking fewer risks and always keeping the race close.

My role as skipper of the reserve boat is to help Dean’s boat to warm up before the races. We line up beside them on the water and sail at the target speeds to try to get the balance and the feel of the boat right. This also gives the race boat a good opportunity to judge the wind over the course. Our in-house racing is crucial in developing our starting strategies and skills. Recently, I have been studying and emulating Spithill’s style of starting, which has helped Dean to understand his rival a bit better.

While all the focus has been on the Louis Vuitton Cup, Alinghi, the America’s Cup holders, have been quietly working away. No doubt they will have a fast boat but of as much interest is who will make up their racing crew and in particular who will helm the boat. Most people predict it will be Ed Baird, of the United States, who will get the wheel over Peter Holmberg, of the Virgin Islands. Both are at the top of their game.

For now, our focus is just to get past Luna Rossa. One thing is certain, we will have four million Kiwis and 43 million sheep cheering us on back in New Zealand until the very end.

— Ben Ainslie has won two Olympic gold medals and one silver for Great Britain. After the America’s Cup, he will be hoping to qualify for the Britain team for his fourth Olympic Games, in Beijing.