By Alexander Smith
(Reuters) – New Zealand were rushing to repair their America’s Cup boat on Friday, a day after the AC75 was damaged while being lifted out of the water following the first day of racing in Barcelona.
All team members were safe following Thursday’s incident, which took place on the first day of the competition to decide which team will challenge New Zealand for the oldest international sporting trophy, known as the “Auld Mug”.
New Zealand secured “Taihoro” with a portable crane and their shore team worked through the night assessing it.
“We have assessed the damage and have now started the repair, this will continue 24 hours a day. There is some structural damage aft in the boat, but the main force was taken on the forward cradle splash,” their CEO Grant Dalton said.
Dalton said in a statement that the team had cut the broken section out of the bottom of the hull and a repair had started, a process he described as “building a new piece of boat”.
“It is too early at this stage to say when we will be sailing again but I have seen these guys work miracles before.”
The America’s Cup AC75 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 engineers 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 “foiling” mono-hull boats, which travel above the water on hydrofoils at speeds of more than 30 knots.
Racing will be taking place on Friday, although New Zealand had to withdraw from its fixtures as a result of the accident.
(Reporting by Alexander Smith; Editing by David Holmes)
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