Grant Dalton, the Emirates Team New Zealand CEO, believes the scrutiny the team’s boat has been subjected to from rivals Oracle Team USA and SoftBank Team Japan suggests they have a special weapon on their hands.

“We have been watched very closely by the Oracle and SoftBank spies every minute we have been on the water and their vigilance makes me think we built a very good racing machine,” Dalton said.

Team New Zealand and Cup defender Oracle have been at odds over a number of issues throughout the Cup cycle.

The Kiwis strongly objected to reducing the size of boats, having the America’s Cup qualifiers moved from Auckland to Bermuda, a framework for the future agreed upon by the other five teams and more recently a protocol amendment allowing teams to practice race against each other in their AC50s.

It is believed that Team New Zealand won an arbitration hearing over losing the qualifying regatta and have been compensated to some degree. However, Cup rules prohibit teams from discussing such matters.

Gripes aside, Team New Zealand have once again pushed the boundaries in America’s Cup boat design, having opted for radical pedal grinders in their AC50 as opposed to the traditional hand grinders that their rivals have pinned their hopes on.

The Kiwis, who lost to Oracle in the previous America’s Cup in San Francisco after carving out what appeared to be an insurmountable 8-1 advantage, launched their AC-class yacht on February 16 and for the past several weeks have been working on crew work and improving boat speed in the Hauraki Gulf.

“The conditions have almost been more ‘Bermuda-like’ than in Bermuda.” Glenn Ashby, the team skipper, said.

“We have probably been the team that has had the chance to sail more days on their America’s Cup Class catamaran than anyone to date as the weather at this time of year in Auckland is perfect for sailing.

“But we have needed every moment we could manage out there because while we are in transit the other teams will be making some big gains.”

Peter Burling, the Team New Zealand helmsman and Olympic gold medal-winner, said: “Every day we have learnt new things and the more the time went by the more we realised how many opportunities we still had for improvement, exploring and testing.

“The feedback that the sailors give during a training session regarding their feeling onboard is crucial.

“If this is true for all boats it is even more important in full foiling catamarans where each parameter is taken to the extreme.

“We are very satisfied with the job we’ve done so far, but the time has come to put a line in the sand in New Zealand and so now the final lap begins!”

Team New Zealand, whose boat is scheduled to arrive on the island early next month, face Groupama Team France in their America’s Cup Qualifying opener on May 27 in the Great Sound.