Well, of course they are not. But it is unusual to see them screwing up. Here's the New Zealand Herald:

Team New Zealand have damaged their wingsail - a hi-tech and expensive piece of machinery - in a dramatic launch incident in the Viaduct this afternoon.

The incident occurred as the team were preparing to fit their wingsail to the platform of AC72 catamaran in gusty conditions. The 40m wing-sail needs to lifted into place by a crane - an extremely delicate process at the best of times.

A Team New Zealand spokesperson said as they were hoisting the sail, a big gust of wind blew across the the Viaduct, picking up the sail. The leading edge of the hard sail is understood to have clipped the side of the main building of Emirates Team New Zealand's base, ripping the skin and causing some rig damage.

Repeairs should take just a few days, and Oracle remains the champion when it comes to trashing a wing sail. But still. I definitely would not want to have been the guy explaining what happened to Grant Dalton.

Bonus link: ETNZ's Glenn Ashby talking about what it is like to trim the wing sail.

Update: ETNZ's wing is back in action, and a chastened shore team says "lesson learned." (video after the jump).

They seem to be getting the hang of it, but I doubt very much they are anywhere near as smooth as Emirates Team New Zealand. 

Still, nice to kow there might be a real race.

It's a taste of things to come. At least, what you can see of it in this video of Emirates Team New Zealand lining up against Luna Rossa. 

Nice gallery here.

And ETNZ tactician Ray Davies talking about it, and saying little, here (though the footage is excellent):

The America's Cup teams have been in the desisgn phase, and will no doubt stay that way through September. But eventually they will have to race against other boats, which is why you see the teams going head-to-head

Well, the rebuilt Oracle AC72 (with substantial mods) is back out on the water, and Artemis and Team New Zealand are messing about in their boats as well, so I guess I'll start paying attention to the America's Cup again. 

After all, this is the year. What is stunning, and conveys the intensity of the setback Oracle suffered when they trashed their AC72 last October, is that they are just now working into double digits in terms of AC72 sailing days. That is a long, long way behnd the other teams, especially Team New Zealand, in terms of invaluable time on the boat. Maybe Oracle can pull off a miracle, but my money is still on the Cup heading to he southern hemisphere again when all is said and done.

Anyhow, here is what they looked like, getting to boat sailing again after almost 3 months in rebuild:

We all spend a lot  of time musing about how the America's Cup has changed in the Larry/Russell era, whether it is a good change or not, and what it all means for the future of the world.

Of course, most of us do that from far outside the AC compound walls. It is, to put it politely, uninformed analysis. So it's both refreshing and informative when the insiders take a crack at sorting out the differences. And worth paying attention.

So here is Emirates Team New Zealand's list of things that are different, and things that are the same:

First, things that are different:

Some changes are obvious. For a start Dean Barker and the boys are heading into the 34th America’s Cup charging around on catamarans. That’s definitely different.

The first of the new generation of America’s Cup boats will be shown off Down Under tonight in a ceremony scheduled to start at 10:30 pm Pacific.

Emirates Team New Zealand is the first team with a boat in the water. Pics can be viewed at Sail-World.

The christening will be streamed live at the ETNZ Blog, where the latest post is all about the measures taken to assure that a champagne christening won’t bust the super-strong-and-yet-in-some-ways-fragile carbon over honeycomb structure.

The Defender, Team Oracle USA, has not announced a launch date, but late-July, early-August seems likely. Spithill and company will launch in San Francisco and sail/train on the Bay, having abandoned an earlier plan to train in New Zealand in the Southern Hemisphere summer.

Emirates Team New Zealand seems to have the trouble magnet on. Here they lose their observer overboard. He just manages to hang on, and scramble back aboard (heart racing, no doubt).

And here they plow into Oracle Racing, which failed to give them room as inside boat. Just another crazy day

Emirates Team New Zealand, incarnation 2011. Photo by Gilles Martin-Raget

I see the most recent decision of the America’s Cup Jury being portrayed in New Zealand as a win, but to my monkeymind it looks like a setback for the Emirates Team New Zealand/Luna Rossa partnership, with first-generation AC72 catamarans set to launch just six months from now. Am I missing something?

I figure ETNZ as a two-boat team, but they just might be nursing a sore toe—