Team New Zealand's lucky escape

We've been out for most of the morning; church, then a pleasant lunch with friends. As we were driving home, She Who Must Be Obeyed commented to us that the first race in the Louis Vuitton Cup finals series was on this morning, and she wondered who'd won.

So we went online, and we discovered that Emirates Team New Zealand won the first race of the best-of-thirteen series, but not without incident; check this out:

Things could have very quickly gone pear-shaped for Dean Barker and his crew this morning; Stuff reports:

Team New Zealand skipper Dean Barker said his crew were shaken but relieved after losing two members overboard in a dramatic opening win in the Louis Vuitton Cup final against Luna Rossa today.
Grinders Rob Waddell and Chris Ward went over the side as Aotearoa dug its bows in rounding the third mark on the foils, burying the 72 foot catamaran up to the main crossbeam.
Wadell and Ward were collected by the chase boat and weren't injured.
Team New Zealand continued to the finish line to claim the first point in the best of 13 series in San Francisco.
The second race of the day was postponed as winds got up beyond the limit of 19.7 knots. That gave Luna Rossa a lifeline as they had earlier withdrawn from the first race with a major problem to their right centreboard that couldn't be fixed in time to race again.
But all the drama surrounded the spectacular accident and recovery by Team New Zealand.
"The single biggest thing is you think what has happened ... we are very thankful that all the guys are OK," Barker said.
"I think everyone is a little shaken. But again, it's yacht racing and it's this type of sailing - it's pretty full on."
Barker put the mishap down to human error and the sheer grunt of these massive cats. The Kiwis have been the masters of performing this difficult manoeuvre but as they have always maintained, they are only a second away from disaster. 

ETNZ came within a whisker of disaster this morning. It reinforces that the AC72 boats are running right to the limit, and at times beyond; to paraphrase the old line that may or may not have come from Star Trek (it's the subject of much debate!), "It's sailing Jim, but not as we know it".

But a win is a win is a win, and ETNZ is now just six more wins away from the America's Cup match against Oracle. We wish them well.