America's Cup: Team New Zealand return to water for first time since lockdown started

Team New Zealand's AC75 Te Aihe was put through its paces on the Hauraki Gulf before being shipped offshore. Photo / ETNZ

Team New Zealand have wasted no time getting back to the job, with work on their scaled-down test model back underway.

Out of the water for the last five weeks, Team New Zealand will be able to continue work towards the build of their second AC75, with the work on the smaller version an important part of that process.

Their first AC75, Te Aihe, was shipped out earlier in the year in anticipation for the first event of the America's Cup World Series in Cagliari, which was ultimately called off.

Back out on the water testing on Te Kāhu today with our new personal separation devices playing an important part in going about our business.

Posted by Emirates Team New Zealand on Wednesday, April 29, 2020

While back at work, Team New Zealand are following strict safety protocols.

After importing several chlorination-producing machines to help sanitise the team base and the North Shore building facility where the build of the team's second AC75 has been frozen for five weeks, the team has also taken steps to monitor social distancing between its members.

Team New Zealand enlisted the help of Dunedin tech company Igtimi to develop a system that monitors social distancing electronically.

"It was obvious to us that monitoring social distancing would be both difficult and distracting for the team to be constantly judging their distance by eye all day long," Team New Zealand chief executive Grant Dalton said.

"So we went looking for a simple technological system that could aid the team with their personal distancing, but nothing seemed to be readily available.

"Because we are an organisation with technology at its core, we looked at what we could do ourselves and who we knew could help."

Igtimi developed a system of personal tags that accurately measure the distance between people. The tags are programmed to react by flashing, beeping and vibrating when a pre-programmed perimeter is intersected. The interactions between the two tags (or people) are then logged for contact-tracing purposes.