By Alexander Smith
(Reuters) – America’s Cup defenders New Zealand were back on the water on Saturday after repairing the damage sustained by their AC75 when they were hauling it out of the water two days ago.
New Zealand’s foiling mono-hull was badly damaged while being craned ashore after the first day of the competition to decide who will challenge them next month for the oldest international sporting trophy, known as the “Auld Mug”.
All team members were safe after Thursday’s drama and the Kiwi shore crew worked round the clock to get back onto the Mediterranean off Barcelona, missing only one day of racing.
New Zealand said in a statement that their boat was sailing as it always had following the repairs and they were happy with its performance, although they did not get to complete a full race as their opponents France had equipment problems.
Team CEO Grant Dalton on Friday described how the team had cut a broken section out of the bottom of the hull and said the repair process was like “building a new piece of boat”.
The America’s Cup boats are craned ashore after racing and sit on huge cradles which keep their hulls supported and their huge foils and deep rudders protected. They are kept in hangar-like “sheds” where the teams can work on them.
As defenders, New Zealand do not have to qualify for the head-to-head final, but are participating in the round-robin series which represents an early stage in the contest to decide which of five potential challengers faces them in October.
Britain, France, Italy, Switzerland and the United States have all entered crews hoping to become the challenger in their high-tech “boats, which travel above the water on hydrofoils.
The ‘double round-robin’ series, which continues on Sunday, sees all the teams compete against each other twice and will decide which four of the potential challengers go through to the semi-finals, which start in mid-September.
(Reporting by Alexander Smith; Editing by Pritha Sarkar)
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