GBR Challenge supremo Peter Harrison knows the next 12 months could be make-or-break if he is to realise his dream of competing in the next America's Cup.

The entrepreneur shelled out about �22m on Britain's first America's Cup challenge for 15 years.

The team eventually lost to Dennis Conner's experienced Stars and Stripes team in the quarter-finals of the Louis Vuitton Cup in Auckland in November 2002.

Harrison is desperate to have another crack at what he calls the "World Cup of sailing", and says he is willing to finance at least another year of the campaign.

GBR Challenge time-line

Jul 1999: Harrison has vision at Admiral's Cup Oct 2000: GBR Challenge company is set up Jan 2001: Formal Cup challenge is made Sep 2001: Crew moves to New Zealand Mar 2002: Wight Lightning is shipped out Aug 2002: Wight Magic follows by plane Nov 2002: GBR knocked out in quarters

But he admits he may walk away if no other sponsors come forward to share the cost of the project.

"At the moment I've put all the key things in place as if we are going forward," Harrison told BBC Sport Online.

"It doesn't make sense to shut up shop.

"It's going to be a tough decision but at the end of 12 months I'm going to have to question whether I go through it all again on my own or say 'I'm not going any further'."

When GBR Challenge crashed out of the Cup, the majority of the sailing team were released to pursue other projects.

But Harrison is injecting a further �4.5m into GBR Challenge in 2003 to keep a core team of designers working on developing the boats in Cowes on the Isle of Wight.

He will also consider buying in top designers from outside the GBR Challenge set up.

"It is a technology race. You have to have competent crews and fit people, and you have to get the tactics and the weather right," he said.

"But you still have to have a speedy boat and we were just a little bit off the pace."

GBR Challenge return to their Auckland base

Meanwhile, he will resume his search through the business world for partners.

"Second time around we'll have a much better chance, though I'm not saying we'll win," said Harrison.

"It could be a long haul and I don't know whether I'll be up for that.

"But if we can get sufficient partners with us I'll feel reenergised to go forward."

Harrison launched the GBR Challenge project in October 2000 - late by competitors' standards.

But despite leaving their second boat GBR78 unraced, Harrison said his only regret was a lack of time for continued on-water testing.

"I wouldn't change any of the decisions. We didn't make many strategic errors," he said.

"Ideally, it would have been nice to have both boats out there respectively four months earlier.

"We built the second boat and put extra pressure on ourselves but GBR78 was a late call.

"We got tank test information and design data which said she was much faster in lower wind speeds than GBR70.

"But we couldn't get her battle ready for the quarters. If we hadn't brought her over, though, we would have wondered 'what if?'

"It was a calculated decision, not a gamble, but we go forward with two boats whereas beforehand we had none."

The venue and timing of the next America's Cup will depend on who wins this year's event between holders Team New Zealand and either Alinghi or Oracle.