Yachting:Team New Zealand heading home

Team New Zealand will wrap up their training programme in Valencia this weekend and return to Auckland to launch their second new boat, NZL92.

The Emirates-sponsored syndicate has been based in Valencia in Spain for the past six months. The team will take a month off from the end of August and then turn their focus to completing and then testing their new yacht.

Team New Zealand managing director Grant Dalton said his team had worked hard over the past six months.

"They have come to grips with living in Spain, the quirks of the sailing venue and they have coped well with long days in the heat of a Spanish summer," Dalton said on his team's website.

"We have achieved what we set out to do over this America's Cup season - establish ourselves as a credible challenger for the America's Cup in 2007." The team will sail for the last time on Saturday and then after a short break will pack up and head home.

Syndicates are allowed to build two new boats for each cup cycle.

NZL92 will be launched about December and shipped to Valencia before Christmas.

The team will follow in February.

Team New Zealand raced their first new boat, NZL84, in this year's three cup pre-regattas.

They won the year's final regatta in July, posting good wins over arch rivals Alinghi and BMW Oracle Racing. The result helped them claim the 2006 season championship.

Team New Zealand finished the year at the top of the challenger leaderboard with 125 points. Oracle are second with 123, Luna Rossa third with 118 and Desafio Espanol fourth with 85.

The pre-regattas, which are new for the event, count for points in the challenger series.

America's Cup countdown

April 1: Skirts off. All teams, including Alinghi, required to reveal yachts.
April 3-7: Fleet racing regatta, the final cup pre-regatta.
April 18-June 12: Challenger series
June 23-July 7: America's Cup.