The ninja attackers (L-R) Cathy Odgers, Paul Holmes and Dan Welton back at Oracle owner Larry Ellison's 'party house' home where they decorated it with New Zealand flags. Photo / Brett Phibbs
The ninja attackers (L-R) Cathy Odgers, Paul Holmes and Dan Welton back at Oracle owner Larry Ellison's 'party house' home where they decorated it with New Zealand flags. Photo / Brett Phibbs
The Kiwis behind the dawn flag-bombing stunt at one of Larry Ellison's San Francisco properties today said the operation took hours in the researching and planning.
A video posted online this morning of a trio, calling themselves the Kiwi ninjas, decorating Ellison's garage with New Zealand flags has fast gone viral. The idea was dreamt up by a group of fervent Team New Zealand supporters over a few beers earlier this week.
One of the ninjas who donned the full lycra body suit, Cathy Odgers, said everything down to the type of duct tape they used to attach the flags to the garage door was thoroughly researched
"I think it would have taken five billable hours of planning the whole exercise," joked Odgers, a lawyer by trade, "but the result was priceless."
"We'd done a reconnaissance mission before that so we could get the logistics all nailed down."
Odgers, who performed the stunt with builder Paul 'Noddy' Holmes, and Daniel Welton (aka the random from the Hawke's Bay) said they were careful not to cause any damage to Ellison's property, situated in the wealthy district of Presidio, which looks down on to the Golden Gate Bridge.
Larry's house had a pleasantly New Zealand feel after the 'attack'. Photo / supplied
"It wasn't a wooden door, it was a stainless steel - so it wasn't going to mark or anything like that. We didn't want his nice garage door ruined by duct tape. I made sure we picked the right tape as well, we spend a while researching that."
The group figured they would have about a minute between setting off the security lights at the front of the property and one of "Larry's henchman" coming to greet them, so they made sure they acted swiftly.
"Our getaway plan was pretty much just running really, really fast," said Odgers, who writes a right-wing blog under the pseudonym Cactus Kate.
For all their planning the ninjas did strike a problem that hadn't thought of - the lack of visibility of the lycra flagsuits.
"The main logistical problem was you can't see through the suit - it was about 5.30am in the morning and we couldn't see through the fabric so we had to wait until the sun was up so we could see," said Odgers.
When the group returned to the house this afternoon to have their photo taken for the Herald, one of Ellison's humourless security guards approached them, and tried to snap pictures of the ninjas uncloaked.
But by and large, the trio's stunt has proved extremely popular.
Andrew Somervell, who is based in San Francisco, filmed and edited the video, said he has already had a massive amount of feedback on the clip.
"It has resonated with a lot of people, not just Kiwis," he said.
