1992 saw the Spain Challenge, under the direction of Pedro Campos, surprise many in the waters of San Diego. Unfortunately the 1995 challenge saw the underfunded one boat program win only one race in Loius Vuitton Challenger series.

1999 sees two time Olympic gold medalist Luis Doreste join the program. They hired leading IMS designer Rolf Vrolijk to design their new boat and although inexperienced in America's Cup boat design, may have produced a fast boat for the waters around Hauriki Gulf. After remoudling their 1995 entrant Rioja de Espana the Spanish have been conducting two boat testing in their home waters of Valencia and also practising along side the French entrant Le Defi.

Unfortunately, the Spanish Challenges new boat, Bravo Espana, got off to a bad start. At her maiden voyage, a main shroud chainplate failed resulting in the mast breaking in four different places and ending up in the Mediterranean.