A new British America's Cup sailing team is set to be announced in London on Thursday.

No other details are available until the announcement to be made at 11.00am on Thursday at the Design Museum in London (just ahead of the opening of the London Boat Show), except for the involvement of key figures from the British sports industry, including Rod Carr, Chief Executive of the RYA, and the Rt Hon Richard Caborn MP, Minister for Sport.

Rumours of a challenge for the 33rd America's Cup in 2009 have been around. The Times reporting back in 2005 that the CEO of London's succesful bid for the 2012 Olympics, Keith Mills, was considering a serious bid for the next cup, but since then nothing.

The previous British challenge by Peter Harrison was closed down after lack of enough support, with two yachts, GBR 70 and GBR 78 now stored in Cowes.

A number of British yachtsmen will be sailing for other syndicates in 2007, including double Olympic gold medallist Ben Ainslie (Team New Zealand) and fellow Olympic champion Iain Percy (Italy's +39 team).

The date and venue of the next event will be set by the new champions but is not likely to be before 2009.