KEY POINTS:
Team New Zealand managing director Grant Dalton believes the compressed nature of the challenger series means it's impossible to make radical steps forward in boat speed.
Dalton said his team had tweaked a few things on NZL92 ahead of their opening semifinal race against Desafio Espanol's ESP97 tonight in Valencia.
In the past teams that have been successful in the Louis Vuitton Cup have improved their boats as the regatta progressed.
The oft-cited example is OneWorld and Alinghi in 2003 - OneWorld won round one but then fizzled out while Alinghi got stronger and faster as the regatta went on.
"It was a different era. You hadn't had the pre-regattas, you hadn't had everyone racing each other, you had more time between the rounds," Dalton said.
"The Louis Vuitton Cup started in October, the America's Cup match wasn't till February then ... It was such a different time.
"I don't know how you improve your boat much from now on basically."
It is understood BMW Oracle Racing have some new equipment. The question is when they will use it.
"But they are about to go up against Luna Rossa - that is not something you are going to take lightly," Dalton said.
"Yes you have to have continuous improvements and little tweaks here and there but you will not make a radical step from here. The time frame is too short."
So will that be a disadvantage for the challenger that goes to the match against Alinghi?
"They haven't got much time either," Dalton said.
"They haven't been doing a huge amount of time sailing. No one has much time.
"It was four weeks between the Louis Vuitton Cup and the America's Cup last time. This time there is about 10 days.
"The biggest jump you'll make will be people in terms of the performance of the boat to get better and better.
"It is not a piece of equipment you can bolt on, it is a management process."
What they said:
* "I fully expect the Spanish to take some races off us."
Team New Zealand tactician Terry Hutchinson on Team New Zealand v Desafio Espanol.
* "Everybody, for whatever reason, thinks we are going to take them 5-0. We don't think like that at all. The racing we had with them in the two rounds although we beat them was pretty close. My feeling is that they will come out really swinging and we would seriously want to be on our game. When we go out we would not want to be asleep."
Team New Zealand's managing director Grant Dalton.
* "It is hard to call. I think you have got a match racing team in Luna Rossa and a faster boat in Oracle, that is the way I would read it."
Dalton on BMW Oracle Racing v Luna Rossa.
