But the key was ensuring the crew, support team and their families had a great time in the region so Oracle looked at coming back.
Mr Shanahan said to ensure that happened, a full social calendar was being lined up so there were plenty of fun and exciting things to do when away from the racing. He said details of the planned events were still being finalised.
"It's great for Bream Bay and Northland to have these guys coming here. It will make a lot of yachties sit up and take notice," he said.
"It's going to be a very public event. These AC72 catamarans are huge and have never been seen in New Zealand, so having two of them racing up and down off Bream Bay will make quite a spectacle.
"There's likely to be quite a flotilla of boats on the water and filming of the action from the air so to have that happening with Bream Bay, Whangarei Heads and the Poor Knights in the background will be really take us out in front of the world."
Oracle scoured the world looking for a suitable place to carry out blue water race testing ahead of its defence and chose Marsden Pt because of Northport's deep water conditions and its proximity to Core Builders Composites in Warkworth, which is building many of the key components for Oracle's two AC72s.
Northport also has ample shore space and easy access to open waters, where the team can test its two AC72s, Oracle said. Ellison's Oracle team won the 33rd America's Cup regatta in 2010 from holders Alinghi and the team's preparation for their defence next year is going to be undertaken off Marsden Pt. It will see Oracle's two America's Cup wingsail catamarans going head-to-head in some spectacular matchracing, just off the Ruakaka coast.
The second of the two AC72s will be launched at the port during the teams' stay and the first of the Oracle team will arrive here in October, with the first yacht expected in January and racing going on until April 2013.
The training could pump several million dollars into the Northland economy, with the yachts based at Northport, and several hundred people are expected from Oracle as yacht crews and support and shore/operation crews.