Team New Zealand finished third behind Oracle and Alinghi in the opening regatta in Marseille. They were without British Olympic Finn gold medallist Ben Ainslie and American Terry Hutchinson, who will join the team in Valencia.

"Having observed the opposition in Marseille from close quarters, I am convinced that an effective afterguard will be a major factor in success at this America's Cup," said Team New Zealand's managing director Grant Dalton.

"We are very keen to get Ainslie and Hutchinson on the water with Dean Barker and the others in an uncompromisingly competitive environment and Valencia is the only opportunity we have this year".

"At Marseille we started the process of rebuilding the sailing team and assessing NZL82's performance against Alinghi and Oracle. We achieved 80 per cent of our objectives."