Team New Zealand have shown they'll be on the pace after taking out one of the practice races ahead of the first America's Cup World Series regatta in Portsmouth.
Hometown hero Sir Ben Ainslie won the other race, showing his team will also be tough to beat.
He was drafted in to help Oracle to victory over New Zealand in San Francisco, and now Sir Ben Ainslie is drawing up plans to win the cup for Britain for the very first time.
He says the obstacle to that is still New Zealand – specifically 24-year-old helmsman Peter Burling.
"He is on a global scale – the brightest talent coming through of his generation," says Sir Ben. "He's had incredible success already. He's with a great team under Grant Dalton. I think they're going to be really tough to beat."
The British skipper has been beaten by Burling already in practice races, but Sir Ben has secured a groundswell of British supporters who previously never cared about the cup.
There's another driving factor for Burling and sailing partner Blair Tuke. They missed out on gold at the London Olympics in the 49er class because of Artemis helmsman Nathan Outteridge.
But the Kiwis have dominated those regattas ever since.
"We enjoy the rivalry," says Otteridge. "They're good mates of ours and I'm impressed with how much they've stepped it up and we are looking forward to taking the challenge to get back past them."
For the next couple of days the focus is not setting course for Rio, but Bermuda 2017.
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