KEY POINTS:
There they sat in stylish cream coloured chairs: the 11 skippers ready to battle it out for the right to race Alinghi for the America's Cup.
Positioned in front on them, on the press-conference stage, was the Louis Vuitton Cup, which had clearly been given a good going over with the polish in preparation for its moment in the limelight.
But while the silverware will return later in the programme, the harsh reality is that seven of the 11 men on the stage will be gone byMay 7.
The time-frame in this Louis Vuitton Cup is significantly shorter than the last challenger series in Auckland, which started in October and dragged on to mid-January.
For the teams it means little chance to develop equipment as there are few breaks in the racing to do so.
"It's not like years gone by where there's been enough time to do some testing between rounds," Team New Zealand skipper Dean Barker said.
"You are pretty limited in what you can change and how much you can develop, so you need to be going well right from the beginning to give yourself a chance at the end."
It also means the teams' energy levels will have to be managed, especially in the first round when they race twice a day.
Team New Zealand sailing and operations manager Kevin Shoebridge said they would rotate the crew to a certain extent but want to settle on combinations.
"We have done a lot of rotation over the last 13 acts [pre-regattas], so we feel we have a really strong base of sailing team that can step in at any time.
"But we really need to start honing down and fixing the group more, just so we can develop.
"There will always be certain rotations for fatigue or illness. If the grinders have a couple of big days it just makes sense to spell them out every now and then, and that is very easy to do.
"But it will be less than you have seen in the past."
Shoebridge said once round one is over and it is back to one race a day, it will become easier.
"When you go into one race a day, even if it is a tough race, it is not that difficult."
While Team New Zealand are preparing for the long haul, for some teams an early exit is inevitable.
Italians +39 have one version-five mast which is still under repair after it broke in the fleet racing regatta, while Areva Challenge have reshuffled their afterguard.
Their time on the America's Cup stage is almost up.
