KEY POINTS:
Desafio Espanol's New Zealand tactician John Cutler thinks his team have closed the gap on the big three challengers - but until they meet in the opening rounds of the Louis Vuitton Cup cannot be entirely sure.
The Spanish team go into the challenger series ranked a distant
fourth behind Emirates Team New Zealand, BMW Oracle Racing and Luna Rossa.
Right behind the Spanish are Italy's Mascalzone Latino and Sweden's Victory Challenge - meaning the battle for fourth spot is shaping up to be as intriguing as the battle for first in the double round-robin competition.
Cutler, who joined the Spanish team in 2005, a year after it was established, believes his team have closed in on the big three but is reluctant to commit any further.
"I am fully aware how much extra resources either in people, experience, money or time those teams have over what we have had available to us," he says. "It is still a very big hurdle to step from a team that has been together for two years to take on a team like Oracle, who has been going for a while and Team New Zealand that has been going for a very long time and Luna Rossa who have been rolling along for a while too.
"The distance between us is getting smaller but have we made the step up to that level? We'll only know that at the end of the event."
Desafio Espanol are the fourth Spanish team to challenge for the cup since 1992. However, this Desafío Espanol team represents a breakaway from past teams.
While the sailing team features mostly Spanish sailors, it also includes an international afterguard including Cutler (tactician), Poland's Karol Jabolonski (helmsman) and American Matt Wachowicz (navigator).
They also hired American sailing legend Paul Cayard as a consultant. His contract expired at the end of March but Cutler isn't ruling out an appearance by the American at the helm during the challenger series.
"There is always a chance that he will do anything. It would be unlikely but you never say never in the America's Cup."
Spain's first boat ESP88 was launched last year and immediately raced in the 12th pre-regatta where it performed adeqautely.
"We have had ESP88 for some time, we thought its performance last year was pretty promising considering the amount of time it had been in the water before we went racing in Act 12. Overall I think it has done pretty well. You always think you could be going better but it is also pretty easy to go worse as well."
ESP97 was launched in January. One of a number of teams battling for the final semifinal spot, Cutler says if they get there a whole new game starts.
"It will depend pretty heavily on what the wind conditions are. A slight change in the wind speed will make a difference. It will come down to which boat is fastest in which conditions."
Cutler says Team New Zealand and his former team BMW Oracle Racing look the most potent of the challengers.
"They are extremely well funded and well organised. They both had a plan of how they are going to do the event. From the outside they are the two teams to beat."
When asked what he thinks will be the key to winning the Louis Vuitton Cup, Cutler says it will come down to multiple things.
"All the basics. You have to be fast, you can't break down, you have got to have a good weather programme. All those things have to be done well.
"It will be hard to pick between the [top] two therefore it is going to come down to the guys sailing the boat. Are they going to make a mistakes under pressure, are they going to get the side that the weather teams wants, are they going to get the timing back to the startline correct?"
The CV
Position: tactician/technical director
Born: Manchester, England, 1962. Moved to Auckland with family when he was 13.
Team: Desafio Espanol
America's Cup history
* 2007: Desafio Espanol
* 2003: Oracle
* 2000: America True
* 1995 Nippon
* 1992: Nippon