Team New Zealand will be hoping to mimic Black Magic, the boat with which they beat the US to lift the America's Cup in 1995, when they take on Team USA in Bermuda.
Although the US have the odds in their favour going into the first races of the 35th America's Cup starting on Saturday, the New Zealand crew may yet take the wind out of their sails.
The holders of the oldest trophy in international sport not only go into the first-to-seven event with a bonus point for topping the qualifiers series, they are also racing on "home" waters, having based themselves in Bermuda since winning sailing's most prestigious prize in San Francisco in 2013.
But Australian skipper Jimmy Spithill and his crew, although outwardly confident, will not be taking anything for granted in their quest for a third successive win after seeing how New Zealand have performed to become the challenger for the Auld Mug, which was first claimed in 1851 by the schooner America.
"I think you've got two of the best teams in the world going head-to-head in a real heavyweight battle and man ... I'm expecting it's going to be one hell of a fight," Spithill said on Friday.
New Zealand's biggest shock so far was to introduce a revolutionary cycling system on their 50-foot catamaran, which allows "cyclors" rather than traditional "grinders" to generate the hydraulic power needed to operate its high-tech "foils" and towering "wing" sail.
The US team responded by introducing a hybrid position aboard its own boat, allowing tactician and fellow Australian Tom Slingsby to pedal when needed to pump more oil into the hydraulic system.
Throughout the build-up to the America's Cup Match series, New Zealand's Peter Burling has looked the most relaxed helmsmen among the five challenger crews, although qualifying has been testing, and included a near-catastrophic capsize.
"It's been a massive effort to get this far, we've faced a lot of adversity over the last couple of weeks with things like the capsize ... but our shore crew have really dug deep to get us a boat that's very close to 100 per cent for the finals," Burling said.
This America's Cup is a revenge match for New Zealand, who lost in 2013 after seeing an 8-1 lead overhauled.
