The waters open up as these women smile under the Singapore sun after competing against each other. They are among the best sailors on the planet, they are world champions, Olympic medalists, some even decorated with honors in their countries. Some awards that, however, do not guarantee them a professional opportunity since the professional circuits have always been dominated by men.
Until now. Suddenly a storm of opportunity has arisen for them: the sails of the future have been unfurled and the sailors have not thought about it: they have cast off and started their adventure, first in mixed teams, both in the Volvo Ocean Race and in the SailGP championship, and with 100% female crews next year in the America’s Cup to be held in Barcelona. Quite a milestone.
In the center of the beach photo is, and not by chance, Hannah Mills. She is the best Olympic sailor in history (two golds and one silver) and triple world champion (plus three silvers and two bronzes). In 2017 Queen Elizabeth II awarded her the title of Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) and a few months ago, she was awarded the rank of Officer of the British Empire (OBE).
Now 36, the Welshwoman has achieved one of her greatest triumphs in life: Mills became a mother in October. In January she raced in Singapore with the British SailGP team with Sienna under her arm. Barcelona is one of Mills’ favorite words. “In 2012 she was world champion there”, she recalls before confirming that next year she will captain the women’s team in the Copa del América.
It was also in 2012 when he achieved his first Olympic medal. “By then I knew that my career would go through the Olympic Games because there was nothing else for us. In 2016 I knew I could win gold, because in London we were close. We achieved it then and also in Tokyo, in 2021. And it was not until a year ago and a little more that the paths of Sail GP and the America’s Cup were opened… the timing to expand our career has been perfect”, he says between sips of tea.
Isabella Bertold is a very special athlete because she is a professional in two sports at the same time: she practices sailing and is a cyclist. “I was the future of the America’s Cup”, she laughs, referring to the fact that the powerful AC75 catamarans that will be seen in Barcelona have been incorporating pedals instead of the trims (or windlasses) that activate the mechanisms.
And despite making progress, four years ago she was faced with the situation that many other sailors face when they reach university. “My story is very simple: I stopped sailing in 2019 as a professional because I saw that I had reached the end of my journey and more so in Canada. There were no exits…”, she recalls.
“Then SailGP opened the doors and an opportunity was created,” he says. And he changed things completely. It is true that to change something it takes time and a collective effort. And I think that the first women’s competition of the Copa del América will change things again”, he predicts. The phrase “there were no more exits” is constantly repeated throughout the interviews.
“In the Sail GP boats we have a guaranteed place as strategists – says the French Manon Audinet – but we have not had a choice. It’s a way to get into the wheel, and that’s fine, but I think we need time to gain experience, make mistakes and learn in other positions, ”she claims.
The Danish Katja Salskov-Iversen, bronze in Rio 2016, goes further: “I think our role is on the rise, but it is also because a few women are fighting to make things happen. This is a world dominated by men and women, being better than many men, is still difficult, because it is established. We have to push and prove ourselves to be accepted and be part of the future.” Salskov-Iversen shares a team with Anne-Marie Bulldozer Rimdom, Olympic gold and bronze and double world champion.
The Spanish team alternates Nick van der Velden, who began his Olympic career with Aruba and now competes with Spain, and Paula Barceló, 49FX world champion in 2021 and fourth in the Tokyo Games, the same place as Diego Botín, the current helmsman of the Spanish SailGP team.
In the America’s Cup, the girls will form a crew of four: two at the helm and two trimming the windlass. In SailGP, there are six sailors on the boat, there is one on board, she is called a strategist, she sits behind the helmsman and warns of everything that happens around the boat in dizzying and dangerous races:
“You realize that two eyes are not enough. I would need six! Four in the face and two behind. You have to be looking everywhere at all times”, says Van de Velden. In these competitions, the catamarans are equipped with fins (foils) that make the boats fly without the hull touching the water.
“The start is the crucial moment because everyone has to go through a place delimited by two buoys. If you give good information and come out well, perfect. If you hit it wrong, there can be a collision, ”she explains. “This type of navigation with foils requires constant learning,” says Paula Barceló
The Mallorcan adds: “It is a pity that there is a rule that establishes a quota, because we would like to be there on our own merits and that the steps they are taking were a little bigger, but we are taking them”, she claims.
Manon Audinet takes the same course: “We have a guaranteed place, it is true, but we have not had a choice. It is a way to get into the wheel, and that’s fine, but I think we need time to gain experience, make mistakes and learn in other positions, ”she explains.
One of the youngest crew members on the circuit is the Australian Tash Bryant (22), a pupil of Nina Curtis, a sailing legend who is still active in the Australian team. Bryant, named Australia’s best sailor at just 16, has wanted to ride these flying boats ever since she first saw them in Sydney three years ago.
“Being on board is a happy place, far from the mainland. You feel a surge of adrenaline, that control of danger, I love freedom, that silence that is only broken by the whistle of the foils. At the moment we are strategists, but we can carry out other tasks and the landscape has changed for them as well”, he points out. “I -she wishes- I would like to be the captain of a catamaran like these, to be in command”, says the 49erFX junior and under 21 world champion
When they hear the words Barcelona and Copa del América, the sailors’ faces change. Some do not have a place yet, others are already planning their adventure. “I would like to be in Barcelona, ??although right now there is no Australian team. I hope so. I have a British passport, I would like to participate with Australia, but I have that second cartridge”, says Tash Bryant.
“I dream of going, of course. I would like there to be a women’s team and to participate”, confesses Manon Audinet with the prospect that the last applicant to announce themselves for Barcelona’24 is a French team.
Hannah Mills already has the Barcelona competition: “It’s not that long now and it’s a great opportunity, a very high step that we are going to climb…. Now, younger sailors ask me “what’s going on?” It’s exciting to look to the future in that sense. The plan is that I’ll be there leading the women’s team.”
That is also the road map of CJ Perez, one of the great promises of world sailing, the Hawaiian with Galician origins who is one of the strategists of the USA SailGP team, led by another America’s Cup legend: Jimmy Spithill. “Barcelona sounds so good, a women-only competition, being part of it aboard the AC40 is an incredible boat… it’s going to be exciting. We are already in full pre-selection so at the end of the year we will have a team ”, she says.
“Until recently -she confesses- I didn’t see myself as a professional sailor, the truth is that before this championship I didn’t see myself earning a living in this. But the possibilities have opened up and I have gone for everything”.
If 2023 promises for these sailors, 2024 has a perfect storm forecast: the fourth season of SailGP, the Olympic Games in Paris and the America’s Cup in Barcelona. “The competition in our house is a great opportunity”, adds Paula Barceló, who laughs when asked how 2024 will be organized. “I would like to clone myself!” confesses the great navigator and future medical doctor.
From Barcelona to Barcelona. The photo that heads and closes this report, taken by Ian Walton, is special not only because it brings together some of the best sailors in the world, but also because it connects with Olympic Barcelona. The photo was directed on January 11 by Bob Martin at West Park Beach in Singapore. Martin (in the photo below organizing the image) is the author of the mythical image of the trampoline jumper with the city in the background in the days before the start of the Barcelona games.
