The team originally proposed consisted of most of the ZL8RI team. Over the two years since the 1996 ZL8RI operation, various operators dropped out for a wide variety of reasons and new team members ops were sought to fill the vacancies. In the end, compatibility of personalities and the commitment of the individual team members accounted for the success of the operation. The key was always going to be the "right" people. We wanted team players who could also be responsible for specific areas of the DXpedition. Definitely no pessimists! The DX community is a small one and reputations, both good and bad are easy to acquire. It was not that difficult to find eleven out of the nearly 100 excellent applicants for a place on the team. The operators and leaders were firmed up by October 1999.

 Ken Holdom ZL2HU - Leader and administrator, Lee Jennings ZL2AL - Logistics and planning of people and equipment, James Brooks 9V1YC - Radio operations manager. Declan Craig EI6FR and Andrew Williamson GI0NWG were in charge of the design and operation of the antenna systems. Ken Holdom ZL2HU and Murray Woodfield ZL1CN were in charge of the power distribution. Junichi Tanaka JH4RHF- RTTY and 6 metres. Trey Garlogh N5KO and Wilbert Knol ZL2BSJ- computer operations and logs, Brian Biggings VE3XA - Safety and Jason Christiensen ZL2URN was the Department of Conservation representative which rounded out the team of eleven.

It is a fact of life that modern DXpeditions are no longer run on shoestring budgets. Small budgets limit options and the results will reflect those limited options. Our biggest problem was finding the perfect ship. The "Braveheart" was excellent for our purposes as we were able to live on board for a month. It get us there and back safely. It was also expensive for a small organization such as ours. Each member of the team was required to put "money on the table" many months before we left to cover part of the $90,000 budget. This requirement sorted out the serious DXers. The Kermadec DX Association relied heavily upon many sponsors and many donations from the individuals and DX organizations around the world. We are deeply indebted to the international amateur community and our commercial sponsors. Without their extremely generous support, ZL9CI would not have happened.