Team New Zealand's Rob Salthouse on fixing Team New Zealand's smashed wingsail
Team New Zealand have recommissioned their second wingsail just one week after it was smashed in the impact of the team's dramatic pitchpole during the challenger semifinals.
The New Zealand crew were this morning back on the water testing the repaired wingsail, after the shore team worked around the clock to painstakingly piece it back together ahead of this Sunday's opening races in the America's Cup match.
It is a remarkable piece of engineering effort, with the wing virtually needing to be rebuilt from scratch after it was returned to the shore crew in tatters after bearing the brunt of the capsize, which occurred in squally conditions on the Great Sound.
The top of the wing was just a twisted wreck of carbon fibre, while serious damage was also sustained to the main structure.
Emirates Team New Zealand were able to continue racing in the challenger finals with a patched up platform and second wing, which ironically had also sustained damage earlier that same day in the gusty conditions, and book a re-match with Oracle Team USA in the Cup final.
Rob Salthouse, who manages Team NZ's wing programme, said despite the shape the wing was in after the crash, he was always confident it could be repaired in time for the Cup match if the crew progressed to that point.
Team New Zealand fit their fixed wingsail.
"I always knew it would be fixable, the wings are a little bit like a big jigsaw puzzle - that day when it came in it just happened to be a 1000-piece one, not a 500-piece one," Salthouse told the Herald.
"There were a few big parts that needed to be laminated and reconstructed, the other bits were basically cutting panels out and slowly piecing it back together."
Salthouse admitted it was tough to see "his baby" in such bad shape after the crash.
"Without a doubt I had to take a pretty big swallow that day, but I always knew at some stage the boys might take a spill. At this level you're always pushing hard and trying to get every little bit out of it and it only takes the smallest of errors to end up with a little whoopsie."
"It was a little harder than I thought, that day was pretty extreme in terms of conditions and for me I was just glad no one was hurt or injured. We can repair and fix things like the wing, you can't repair people as easily."
After a day off yesterday to recover from a draining couple of weeks, skipper Glenn Ashby and his crew were back on the water this morning training ahead of the big showdown.
The Kiwi team, followed by a flotilla of spy boats, were forced to take it slowly at first as they went through a few systems checks with the new wing.
Team NZ spent about an hour and a half on the water before heading back to their base, and are expected to return to the Great Sound for another training session later today.
Regatta director Iain Murray had suggested the wing damaged in last week's pitchpole incident was Team NZ's "sacred wing" that they were saving for a potential showdown with Oracle in the final.
On the day of the crash, Team NZ had screamed back to their base to swap out their wingsail after sustaining (comparatively) minor damage to their first one as they headed out onto the race course for the second day of the challenger semifinals against British team Ben Ainslie Racing.
Salthouse said while it was the team's second generation wing, the two wings are similar in performance.
"It is wing two, it was a move-on from wing one. But wing one has been put to a very similar place, so for most it would be very hard to tell the two apart. Although it's your last baby as such and you always have a favourite, that was probably the favourite. I don't think there is much in it from a performance point of view."
