KEY POINTS:
There is no rest for the vanquished. Less than a month after failing to win back the America's Cup, about 70 Team New Zealand members are back at work, planning their next assault on international sport's oldest trophy.
This jumpstart they appear to have on many fellow challengers
could be the difference between winning and losing.
Designers, rather than sailors, are likely to be the real winners in Valencia in 2009, so the $10 million pledged to the Grant Dalton-led team by the Government is vital.
"It allows us to bring core people straight back on board," said Team NZ director of sailing and operations Kevin Shoebridge.
"Some of the 125 people we had involved in Valencia are on a break, others are sailing in regattas around the world but a lot are already back here working.
"Within six weeks this building will be full of designers. Maybe around Christmas we will get a few days off."
But Shoebridge is not discounting changes in personnel.
"We have to get some fresh blood and thinking," he said. "There could be some new faces."
The short lead-in time - 19 months from the time the design rules for the new class of boats for the 33rd America's Cup are released on October 31 until the start of the challenger series in May 2009 - means the design teams will be under pressure to quickly "get it right".
They will have limited opportunities after that for even minor changes.
The short turnaround should favour established challengers such as Team NZ.
"It is unlikely, given the time constraints, we will see any new challengers apart from the British in 2009," said Shoebridge. "It took us 18 months to put this team together."
The new boats pose a challenge for the design and sailing teams.
Team NZ hope to be ready for tank testing by the end of the year but Shoebridge remains coy on where, apart from saying it will not be in New Zealand. The team used a swimming pool-sized tank in Southampton for testing last time.
He says Team NZ will aim to have the first of their new boats in the water less than nine month after the specifications are revealed. A start is likely to be made on the second boat before the first is launched. Both hulls must be built in New Zealand but can be finished in Spain.
The number of crew members is likely to rise, from the 17 used on the 77ft Version 5 yachts (which drew 4.1m) to 20 or 21 on the 90ft boats, which will draw 6.5m.
"They will have a much bigger sail area, be a lot faster and more hi-tech," said Shoebridge. "They will probably need another two grinders."
The shortened lead-in time and two-boat restriction will bring some financial relief, but that will be offset by the cost of the new boats.
Shoebridge could not put a figure on the cost of the new craft just as he was reluctant to say how much the just-ended campaign cost.
The two boats used in Valencia, Team New Zealand's five chase boats and 22 12m 40ft containers are on their way back to New Zealand.
With the old generation boats being sailed in next year's regattas, the first look at the new generation craft (in competition) will not come until the start of the 2009 challenger series.
Of Larry Ellison's impending court challenge to Alinghi, with the prospect of a Michael Fay-style "big boat" challenge as mounted in 1988, Shoebridge said he would be surprised if it went much further in light of the number of questions answered by Alinghi boss Ernesto Bertarelli in making this week's announcements.
Cup facts
* The next America's Cup and the preceding challenger series will be sailed between May and July 2009.
* BMW Oracle has been dumped as challenger of record, replaced by Club Nautico Espanol de Vela.
* The new rules will be unveiled on October 31.
* Two regattas, with points counting towards the 2009 challenger series, will be sailed either side of next year's Beijing Olympics - one in Valencia, the other at a yet-to-be-determined European venue.
* Each challenger can build two of the new general 90ft boats, but cannot sail one against the other.
* America's Cup holders Alinghi can sail in the challenger series until the semifinal stage.
* Grant Dalton will continue as boss of Team New Zealand.
* Again there will be no "nationality" rule governing crew or design team members.
* Four challenges have been accepted for the 33rd America's Cup. They do not include Larry Ellison's BMW Oracle bid.
* The Spanish Government will pay €105 million ($184 million) for hosting rights in Valencia - up from €90 million ($157 million).
