"We've been able to pull off almost the unimaginable against all odds ... from a few years ago, regrouping, getting over here late, scrambling and still managing to pull it off. It's an absolutely unbelievable feeling."
Ashby reflected on some of the early decisions made in the campaign, where the core group set the course towards today's triumph.
Perhaps the two biggest calls were to stay in New Zealand to train, when all their rivals were already in Bermuda, and to replace tradtional shoulder grinders with cycle posts.
"We knew, with this format, we had to be extremely innovative and extremely aggressive with our design philosophy," he said. "We all, as a group, agreed and recognised where the bar would eventually get with our sport, and we tried to fast-track that learning process as much as we could.
"The cycling system, the wing control system we have and also the foil control system is very very different to what our opponents have been using.
"I think, that was cetrtainly a big risk, but we had to risk big to ultimately win the America's Cup.
"We had a huge amount of debating at the time when we had to make those very, very difficult decisions. Together, we just threw it out there and just had to believe it was the right way forward.
"They were very hard decisions to take the path we did, but as you saw today, we got most of them right."
And, of course, the disaster of San Francisco has underpinned many of those options taken, something Ashby can personally attest to.
"A few years ago, it was absolutely brutal for the team - a hard pill to swallow," he offered. "It is a great dempetion and just a relief to right the wrongs of the last campaign.
"We obviously learnt a lot from that campaign and we put our best foot forward for this campaign.
"There will be a lot of proud yachties from New Zealand and a lot of proud Kwis for what has been achieved over the past few years."
