Does the human element still count?

Speed and reliability aside, yachting genius still plays a part. Look for pressure to be applied in pre-starts and reading the windshifts on Bermuda’s tricky Great Sound will be vital to winning races. At speeds of up to 90km/h, decisions have to be made in the blink of an eye. One call could make or break a race or even decide who wins the Auld Mug.

What impact will the weather have?

The ability of these boats to foil in winds as low as six knots means it’s going to need dead calm conditions to keep them in their bases and off the water. But the weather is still likely to play a role. Three days of practice racing last week were wiped out because of no wind. June can be a light-airs month and with the tightest of racing schedules it won’t take much for regatta director Iain Murray to start feeling some heat.

Can Jimmy Spithill be silenced?

Not likely. In fact, get ready to hear plenty from defending skipper Jimmy Spithill and his champion Oracle syndicate. Their danger is ever-present and lurks with the sort of menace that Darth Vader oozes. Endless wealth and resources mean the American defender never goes away as Team New Zealand found out last time. They’ve conveniently tweaked the rules to sail in the round-robin phase and will get a handle on the speed of their challenging rivals. Win or lose, it’s going to be a month of Spithillisms.

Are these Kiwi bikes really working?

There seems to be a general consensus that Team New Zealand are onto something with the radical switch to pedal power. Why else are Oracle doing their best to replicate it in some form? There’s no doubt the Kiwis have more power, but it’s how they use that extra dose of the vital commodity that will define their challenge. It seems the power boost has increased their foiling stability without any compromise to their crew work through the turns. Time will tell if it is the gamechanger but the signs are promising.

Are there hidden dangers?

Put aside the very real possibility of a rival taking a boat out by accident or with intent, these temperamental boats could be victims of hidden threats. A collision with a sea-turtle or snaring weed or pollution are ever-present concerns in these clear, tropical waters.

What’s the chance of an accident or three?

The leadup has been littered with capsizes, crew lost overboard, crashed and malfunctions. Don’t expect that to disappear in the heat of battle. If anything, the threat of disaster increases as the stakes are raised. New boundaries are constantly being pushed, meaning his will be a cup like none before it on that front.

Will there be lead changes?

We saw exactly that when the racing started to even up in San Francisco and expect more in Bermuda in an increasingly even fleet. It will take a lot for a wire-to-wire victory to be accomplished, especially the deeper the regatta runs. The speed these boats can cover ground and escape each other’s ‘‘dirty air’’ means more competitiveness.

Can Team New Zealand win?

That’s the $100m question, but of course they can. Whether they will in a regatta with unprecedented intangibles is another matter. They have given themselves a boat with a difference, backed by a world-class crew and a genius helmsman in Peter Burling. They might even have a trick or two up their sleeve for the later rounds this time. Don’t forget, this is the America’s Cup and everything tends to get loaded in the defender’s favour.