Women's America's Cup: Talent abounds at the inaugural Puig Women's America's Cup

Today the skippers from the 12 competing teams – six America’s Cup squads and six Invited Teams from Australia, Canada, Germany, Netherlands, Sweden, and Spain – had an early-morning photoshoot at the Historic Building of the University of Barcelona before facing the world’s media at the opening Press Conference.

The spotlight is very much on these athletes, all excited by the opportunity that the Puig Women’s America’s Cup is affording them as a pathway to the major teams and the AC75 of the America’s Cup.

Silvia Mas, skipper of Sail Team BCN opened the Press Conference saying: “For me, of course it is a pleasure to have the first Women’s America’s Cup here in Barcelona. We are super happy to have our family and our friends here supporting us. There is great warmth.”

Hannah Mills, double Olympic gold medallist and skipper of Athena Pathway typified the excitement saying: “This is such an opportunity for women to get experience in these boats. That experience gap is real, and we’ve all raced Olympic boats but this foiling era of sailing there is very little opportunity and experience with women sailors and this, really for me, marks a huge step forward.”

Mills spoke about the skills-gap and was positive about the Puig Women’s America’s Cup being a stepping stone to the future, saying: “This regatta is such a step in bridging that gap and really showcasing to the world what female sailors can do and we all feel that responsibility sat here to demonstrate that. We need to make this event the biggest success we can, talk about it, shout about it, tell everyone we know what’s going on and why it’s important to gain traction going forward and hopefully whoever wins the America’s Cup, sees this as a huge part of it going forward as well.”

What’s at stake for these team is a ticket to the big-time, with all the senior America’s Cup teams looking out for the generational talent of female athletes emerging in the global foiling scene. Manon Audinet, skipper of the Orient Express L’Oreal Racing Team, summed up what’s at stake saying: “It’s what we’ve been missing for a while now, having the chance to sail on these boats. It is just the beginning now and we are getting more experience and I think we all want to sail on the AC75 for the next campaign but, for myself, I want to be involved in this kind of project only if I deserve it.”

Audinet is confident for the future: “Now we are just getting more experience and I hope that soon we are going to be good enough to share the project with the other guys but it’s just perfect what is happening now. We are going to have more women involved in the America’s Cup over the next event and I can’t wait to see women on the big boats for the next one.”

The fleet is adorned with Olympic medallists with some of the most decorated yachtswomen of all time across the teams. In total there are some seven Gold, ten Silver and four Bronze medalists across the two fleets, evidencing the depth of talent on display at the Puig Women’s America’s Cup.

After success in the UniCredit Youth America’s Cup, the Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli team are riding high and their Women’s team are looking to emulate the success. Giulia Conti, skipper of the Italian team spoke about their preparations, saying:

“We feel a lot of support from the main team. Seeing the Youth Team winning was a good moment for us to realise that all the hard work we did together this past few months worked out really well. It was super cool to watch them winning and I had tears in my eyes when they crossed the finish line.”

What we’re about to see unfold is two rounds of top-level fleet racing, followed by a match-racing final where only the finest will come out on top. The Puig Women’s America’s Cup format is brutal and rewards consistency, accuracy and execution of the highest order, with team-work and communication absolutely vital to succeed in the rapier-fast AC40 fleet of fully equalised yachts.

Text and images courtesy of the America’s Cup. To read the full release, visit americascup.com.