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Stars & Stripes heads for NZ

Stars and Stripes was raised a few hours after it sank off Long Beach

LONG BEACH, California -- Team Dennis Conner's damaged America's Cup yacht Stars & Stripes has begun a 15-day journey to New Zealand on a container ship.

The $5 million Stars & Stripes (USA-77) sank in 55 ft of water last month in Long Beach harbour during routine testing and was blamed on rudder failure.

The team said the damage was limited as the boat came to a halt in more than 3ft of soft mud. An ultrasound had been carried out to determine the extent of damage where the bow hit the bottom.

"Details of the rudder failure will be kept confidential due to the sensitivity of the design information that would be revealed. Our designers and engineers do know what caused the failure and can prevent it from ever happening again with one design modification," the team said.

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All cracks had been temporarily reinforced and the hole where the rudder tore out had been covered during the trip to Auckland.

Permanent repair work will be done at the team's base in Auckland, but engineers did not know how long it would take.

"There could be more or less work involved as we get into the project but we are confident we will be sailing her sometime around mid-September for continued testing against USA-66 and if we so chose, she would be available to race in the first race of the Louis Vuitton Series, starting October 1," the team said.

Conner's other yacht, also named Stars & Stripes (USA-66) will be shipped to New Zealand next week, Associated Press reported.

Conner has won and lost the 151-year-old America's Cup more than anyone in history, with four victories and two losses.