America's Cup: Team New Zealand would have raced today

Team New Zealand would have raced today if racing went ahead. Photo / Ricardo Pinto

Team New Zealand skipper Glenn Ashby says the team would have been both physically and psychologically ready to go racing today had the conditions allowed.

Wild weather conditions in Bermuda forced the postponement of today's racing in the challenger semifinals, handing Team New Zealand an extra 24 hours to get their boat back in shape following yesterday's terrifying capsize.

Ashby said while they wouldn't have been able to get their high-tech catamaran back into its "A1" configuration for today's two scheduled races against Ben Ainslie Racing, they would have been able to get a boat out on the water, following a round-the-clock repair effort from the shore team.

"The guys have obviously had quite a big night getting everything organised for today's racing to be on the water. With the racing today now being cancelled, we'll continue on with little bits and pieces to try and improve the boat to get it back to A1 again for tomorrow's racing," Ashby told the Herald.

"It was a huge day for the whole team yesterday and the guys have done a fantastic job to get it back into raceable condition today."

The postponement of today's racing also gave the Team NZ crew another day to refocus and mentally recover from the shocking setback. Three of the crew - Blair Tuke, Andy Maloney and Josh Junior - were catapulted from the boat as it flipped, hitting the water at high speed.

It is understood Tuke was scooped out of the Great Sound by one of the British chase boats, such was the distance he flew from the yacht.

All three are said nursing some pretty nasty cuts and bruises, but Ashby said there will be no injury-enforced crew changes for tomorrow's racing. While both are listed as "cyclors" in the crew list, both Tuke and Maloney have specialised roles on the boat, controlling the flight of the boat at very points.

"Tomorrow being a three-race day is a big day for all the guys, so we will definitely be rotating through our guys anyway and keeping in mind what the guys went through the other day. At this stage of the game they all look pretty good and they're all pretty keen to get back out on the water - as am I," said Ashby.

Asked whether yesterday's events will have any lingering psychological impact on the team when they return to the racecourse, the Team NZ skipper said thrills and spills are part of sailing high performance boats.

"We've all been around high performance dinghies and catamarans for a while. Whilst yesterday was absolutely not ideal for anyone, I've certainly been involved in quite a few moments like that over the years in bigger multihulls and dinghies. It's just one of those things, you kind of know it's coming and in those top end conditions we were sailing in yesterday, the added risk of capsizing is greater," he said.

"We'll put our helmets and goggles on and be ready to go out there tomorrow. We're really looking forward to a three-race day."

Schedule for tomorrow
SF 1 R5: Emirates Team New Zealand v. Land Rover BAR - 5:08 am
SF 2 R5: Artemis Racing v. SoftBank Team Japan - 5:37 am
SF 1 R6: Land Rover BAR v. Emirates Team New Zealand - 6:06 am
SF 2 R6: SoftBank Team Japan v. Artemis Racing - 6:35 am
SF1 R7*: Land Rover BAR v. Emirates Team New Zealand - 7:05am
SF2 R7*: SoftBank Team Japan v. Artemis Racing - 7:35am