"This is the official start of a long, hard journey."
With those words Team New Zealand boss Grant Dalton confirmed the team will have another crack at wrestling the America's Cup away from Oracle Team USA.
The Kiwi syndicate, backed by the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron, became the first team to officially announce their challenge for the 35th America's Cup yesterday. Further entry announcements are expected to follow today.
It is believed Italian team Luna Rossa and Artemis submitted their entries before Emirates Team New Zealand, but have yet to officially announce their challenge. Others who have signalled they'll be throwing their hat in the ring are Ben Ainslie Racing (GBR) and a French challenge led by Franck Cammas, bringing the total of challengers for the 2017 event to five - two more than in San Francisco last year.
The new challenger of record (COR), responsible for negotiating the rules on behalf of the challengers, is also expected to be revealed by America's Cup authorities over the weekend after the original COR, Team Australia, withdrew from the event last month. The role goes to the first challenger to submit their entry, rumoured to be Luna Rossa.