The New Zealand rowing team's touched down in Florida with one crew in particular having designs on spoiling the American party.

The world championships get underway this weekend, where the USA women's eight can extend its winning streak to a 12th year.

Their winning streak also includes the past three Olympics.

Women's eight member Lucy Spoors says they've closed the gap.

"We left Europe thinking that we probably need to find about four or five seconds to be in gold medal contention, we think we have definitely found some of those."

Spoors said the heat will probably be the biggest challenge teams will have to overcome at the world championships.

The squad is one of the first to arrive in Sarasota, with many delaying their travel due to the impact that Hurricane Irma had on the state.

Though there was minimal damage inflicted on the venue, teams are sharing hotels with displaced locals.

Spoors said the New Zealand team is keen to bring a smile to the locals faces.

"We said from the start that we would be totally prepared to give up some of our time to help. Yesterday we volunteered a couple of hours just to hand out the volunteers gear, so that was really cool and nice to meet them."