The Artemis team hope to have their boat ready for sea trials in two weeks. Photo / AP
Once the dust had settled after May's horrific training accident which claimed the life of their friend and crewmate Andrew Simpson, the Artemis team came together to make some decisions about the future.
They were resolute that their first America's Cup challenge would not end in a twisted heap of
carbon fibre on San Francisco Bay.
And so, while their rivals were out for their final tune-ups yesterday before the opening race of the Louis Vuitton challenger series, the sailing and shore crew of Artemis Racing were locked away inside an old navy aircraft hangar that is now their Alameda base, as they race against the clock to get their boat ready to join in the action come August.
The team's chief executive, Paul Cayard, said he had crews working nights, weekends and holidays to finish the new cat. They're so determined to get out on the water again that when journalists arrived for a tour of their 9300sq m facility across the Bay bridge in Alameda, we found skipper Iain Percy busy preparing the surface of a daggerboard.
"It's all hands on deck here," he said.
