There is a hunger for regatta. It has taken 173 years to get here. The Barcelona edition will mark a before and an after in the very long history of the America’s Cup with the celebration of the first trophy for women. There will be twelve teams competing, the six officials headed by the current guardian of the One Hundred Guineas Cup (Emirates Team New Zealand) and six more, including Sail Team BCN. “The level is very high, there is a very prepared and ambitious young talent, the most difficult, personally, has been having to choose”, maintains the Olympic sailor, world champion and coach of the local team, the Sail Team BCN, Monica Azón.
Dozens of Olympic medalists, young pushers, European and world champions or participants in the Volvo Ocean Race or the SailGP championship will compete with the AC40 (with four crew members on board) in Barcelona. The female sailing elite will test their strength in the first Puig Women’s Amperican’s Cup, between September 12 and October 13, after the Unicredit Youth (from October 10 to 26) and when the grand final of the America’s Cup. In this way, he wanted to give the maximum presence and dissemination to a sporting event that is broadcast live all over the world.
The women’s regatta – along with the youth’s – has also served to speed up the necessary rehabilitation of the Port Olímpic, where the bases of six teams will be housed. However, until the works are finished to be able to locate the sports bases there, the clubs are carrying out the selection and training process – nine teams have already confirmed their squad – in alternative spaces. The BCN Sail Team has settled in Sitges, where the selection process for the women’s and youth team began in September, after the preliminary regattas in Vilanova and la Geltrú.
“In perspective, everything that this entails will be assessed, which is a lot… At the moment, it opens another door for women sailors and allows them to acquire experience at all levels”, adds Azón. She has experienced the evolution of an eminently male sport that took a big step when the Olympics imposed parity but in which women continue to fight to conquer spaces. Proof of the anticipation generated by the Puig Women’s America’s Cup has been, and is being, the selection process. To participate in the women’s and youth (mixed) teams of the British team, the Athena Pathway, with super medalist Hannah Mills at the head, 300 athletes applied. Between the two teams, they have six Olympic medals and 22 world championships.
The challenge is huge, especially for the Barcelona team, which will be playing at home. Since September, women and young people (it remains to be decided whether this team will be mixed or not) have organized five calls of five days each to select and prepare the group. One meeting a month, “which has not been easy because it is necessary to combine all the competition and preparation agendas for the Olympic Games in Paris, from July 26 to August 11”. In addition to the physical preparation, there were three navigation sessions and two simulator sessions.
The next call will be ten days from now and will coincide with the announcement of the athletes who will make up both the women’s and youth teams. “Operationally, Sitges is working very well and we will continue there until we can have the AC40”, assures Mónica Azón. All the teams in Group B hope to be able to access these boats as soon as possible.
One of the sailors who hasn’t missed any of the Sail Team BCN dates has been Sílvia Mas: “I’ve followed the America’s Cup since I was little, it’s the most important regatta and it always seemed like an unattainable dream to me. ..”, he maintains. Mas did the Olympic campaign in Tokyo and continued for Paris, but this challenge has been imposed. And it goes to all.