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 That gave Luna Rossa a lifeline as they had earlier withdrawn from the first race with a major problem to their right centreboard that couldn't be fixed in time to race again.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.

"The boats are incredibly powerful. You see how the speed rockets up as you make the turn around the top.

"We came in there with good pressure and through the turn we were always going to pick up quite a decent increase.

"I'm sure there are a few things we could have done a bit better. If you don't get everything exactly right, then you are going to make it tough. We didn't do it as well as we could have. We will have a good look at our systems.

"The guys will bounce back and we'll be all set for tomorrow."

Barker said the boat could have raced again today, despite losing fairings and damaging the left side of the trampoline in the mishap.

The shore crew had boarded the boat at the end of the race, instigating patch-up repairs with the hope of going again in half an hour but the weather gods intervened.

Now both boats get the chance to ready themselves for a return to action tomorrow.

Team New Zealand will have a busy night, making sure there is no structural damage from the high-speed accident.

The accident occurred when Team NZ were effectively racing by themselves.

The Italians had to pull out early in the second leg with their centreboard problems.

Luna Rossa encountered problems with it before the race started and were saved from forfeiting when the wind got up to exceed the limit of 18.9 knots, forcing a 30 minute delay.

Luna Rossa appeared to sort out the mess in the time well enough to start when the race eventually got under way.

But the problem resurfaced quickly once the boat was put under the strain of a foiling gybe rounding the first mark.

New Zealand had won a tight start, getting to windward and then powering past Luna Rossa at more than 40 knots on the short dash to the first mark where they led by eight seconds.

The race was then as good as over as Luna Rossa pulled out, leaving the Kiwis to sail the course by themselves - a sight that has been seen far too often in this troubled regatta.

But that didn't stop the drama towards the end as they kept pushing hard.

The incident was similar to what happened to America's Cup defenders Oracle late last year. The Americans pitch-poled their boat then and destroyed the first generation AC72.

New Zealand's design, which offers a lot more volume in the hulls, appears to have helped quickly stabilise the boat as it re-emerged relatively unscathed.

And it was fortunate for Waddell and Ward that they were thrown backwards - doing 40.7 knots at the time and dropped to 13 knots at impact - managing to avoid collisions with equipment on the boat as they were tossed about at high speed.