Oracle Team USA went back to work yesterday as they prepared for the most important few months of their America’s Cup campaign.

The team reassembled at their base in Dockyard after a month off, with Grant Simmer, the team general manager, saying that the work of the next few weeks would define the team’s year.

“The work that we do this year, the decisions that we make over the next weeks and months, will go a long way to determining whether we are ultimately successful next year in the America’s Cup,” Simmer said.

According to Tom Slingsby, the helmsman and sailing team manager, the team are chomping at the bit to get back on the race course at the first Louis Vuitton America’s Cup World Series event in Oman at the end of next month. The team are in second place on the leaderboard, but for Slingsby, that means there is room to improve.

“I was actually disappointed with last year,” he said. “Second is not good enough. We want to lead at every turn and win every race. So that’s our goal for the team this year.”