So much media attention has been devoted to personalities, technology and money in past America’s Cup competitions that the event has often been defined as a head-to-head duel, with more prominence given to the high-profile businessmen fronting teams than to the crews.

Not until professional yachtsmen such as American Dennis Connor and the late Sir Peter Blake of New Zealand began to make an impact in the 1980s did the event evolve from a diversionary sport among billionaires to the highly sponsored, media-led competition among the world’s best shortcourse sailors that it has become today.

The latest manifestation of the event – where rules have been formalised around a monohull sloop and teams train and compete for two years to win the right to challenge the cup-holder – has introduced the kind of professionalism and teambuilding that has become the hallmark of sports such as Formula One motor racing.

In the same way that F1 teams develop over many seasons, the newer teams in this year’s America’s Cup face familiar issues, struggling to raise sponsorship and attract top talent. But the presence of teams such as Italy’s +39 Challenge, Team Shosholoza of South Africa and the China Team have shown that it is possible to build a campaign with a limited budget. Each of these teams is expected to be among the also-rans but each has shown a commitment that could lead to success in a future, bigger challenge.

For Luca Devoti, team leader of +39 Challenge, the dream is to pull together proven talent in some of the world’s best dinghy sailors, such as Iain Percy, his helmsman. Results were encouraging in the early racing, but just as the boat was showing signs of technical competitiveness its only mast broke in a collision. Budgetary constraints meant the team was unable to buy a new one, so the crew and support team had no choice but to repair it.

“I strongly believe that a team of really good sailors can make up for a lack of funding and I think we have shown that,” says Mr Devoti. “But there is no question that the mast breakage has been a serious setback.”

The mixture of youth and experience in these teams is essential for developing a wider pool of America’s Cup racers. The top boats compete for a relatively small number of experienced professionals – the so-called “rock stars” – who command lucrative contracts in the best teams. “There are probably only about a hundred in the world with the kind of experience we need,” explains Craig Monk, sailing team manager at BMW Oracle Racing. “Each of the top teams needs 36 for their boats, so that doesn’t leave many to choose from.”

Secrecy over keel design and other technology means that intellectual property must be protected. To prevent people from transferring secrets to rivals, crew members are tied to their teams after the start of every campaign, and there is an 180-day compulsory lay-off if they leave preventing them from joining another team.

A court agreement with a similar aim disbarred the cup’s most successful skipper, Russell Coutts, from this year’s competition after he left the Alinghi team in a dispute with the syndicate head, Ernesto Bertarelli. The sacking showed the steely side of Mr Bertarelli in contrast with the skipper’s more open style of management, which had fostered a strong team spirit.

But Jochen Schuemann, helmsman and sports director of Alinghi and a three-time Olympic gold medallist, claims that this less hierarchical approach has been maintained. “It was very important to me when joining the team,” he says, “that we adopted the right principles where people could contribute their opinions openly without autocratic controls.”

Even the billionaire godfathers who continue to dominate the top teams have knuckled down to the demands of teamwork in pursuit of success. Larry Ellison, CEO of Oracle and syndicate head of BMW Oracle Racing, has had to develop his skills in the “afterguard”, the nerve centre of the boat, just like everyone else. One of his jobs is to call the relative speeds of competing boats.

Competition has grown to such an extent that there is nowhere to hide in a modern America’s Cup crew. The hard training for these full-time teams – the BMW Oracle crew sailed 165 days last year – means that injuries are a constant threat. Each crew member has a fitness programme tailored to his or her individual needs.

Craig Monk, a “grinder” in the race team, responsible for hoisting and reeling in the sails, has a daily intake of about 5,000 calories. Yet when racing, the demands of hard grinding mean he burns between 6,000 and 8,000 calories a day. “You need to have an explosive power, so it’s important to stay fit and not get injured when you’re sailing six hours a day,” he explains.

Beyond the crucial roles of navigator, tactician, skipper, strategist and helmsman, every other position demands years of training and experience so that manoeuvres are executed instantly without the need for shouted commands. On the best boats, plans are communicated quietly.

The mixture of nationalities on most boats means that shouted orders would be fruitless anyway. “The bow speaks Italian, the afterguard speaks English and in the middle they swear in Polish – but nobody understands it,” says Mr Devoti of +39. “It works just fine.”

He likens the team dynamics to that of an orchestra. “When people know what they’re doing there is no need for a lot of shouting. The bow manager works like the first violin and the mast like the first flute.”

Mr Devoti’s team nevertheless faces a steep learning curve as Vincenzo Onorato, head of another Italian team, Mascalzone Latino-Capitalia, discovered when competing in the Louis Vuitton series in 2003. The team was the first to be eliminated but it won many admirers for its team spirit.

“We learned so much from that campaign,” says Mr Onorato. “There is no doubt that you need people with experience, but you also need new people and we are trying to bring through a new generation in this campaign.”

Each team is a business in its own right with budgets, operations and logistics supporting the yachts. But while the teams are often characterised by the hardware – the yachts and their technological innovations – they cannot win without teamwork. Ultimately, team management is about getting everything – finance, technology, leadership, crews and racing – in place and working smoothly.

“If only we could have got the funding we needed at the right times,” says Mr Devoti of +39. “It might have been a different story. I may do this again but not like this. I’m ready for a holiday.”

Richard Donkin a former FT staff writer who now writes a weekly column on recruitment and employment, and a monthly column on fishing. He is the author of “Blood, Sweat and Tears: The evolution of work“