After a thrilling victory in the inaugural Puig Women’s America’s Cup in Barcelona, Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli trimmer Maria Giubilei declared, “We are not going back.”

“We have just demonstrated that women can do it. We can do it so it’s impossible that we go backward,” said Giubilei, one of the four sailors racing the state-of-the-art foiling AC40s for Italy.

Women have been participating in the America’s Cup since the 1880s and participation peaked in 1995 when America3 campaigned a competitive all-women team. Since then women have continued to hold vital positions on America’s Cup campaigns, but a spot on the boat has been elusive.

The Puig Women’s America’s Cup held in October as part of the America’s Cup extravaganza in this Spanish port city, determined to put an end to all that. Calling it “the ultimate pathway … aimed at bridging the experience-gap,” America’s Cup organizers launched an all-women competition as a platform to “allow female athletes to upskill on the vagaries of modern foiling monohulls” and gain entrée into this elite level of sailing.

The maiden event was held in mid-October as part of the months-long 37th America’s Cup regatta. Six teams representing the Cup contenders made up Group A: Alinghi Red Bull Racing Swiss team, British Athena Pathway, Emirates Team New Zealand, Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli, New York Yacht Club’s American Magic and Orient Express L’Oréal Racing from France and were joined by Group B made up of the half dozen independent teams Andoo Team Australia, Canada’s Concord Pacific Racing, JaJo Team Dutchsail, Swedish Challenge Powered by Artemis, Germany’s Women’s AC Team and the much-adored hometown entry Sail Team BCN. 

Each group was slated to compete in a series of eight fleet races, and the top three from each group advanced to a four-race semifinal series. It was this fleet racing that fans found the most thrilling of the America’s Cup spectacle, with a half-dozen AC40s crewed by expert women sailors, crisscrossing the course at speeds up to 45 mph: unlike the AC75s, which often played follow-the-leader around the track. The talented teams of women were daring, and when the wind was optimal the racing was electrifying.

Conditions allowed Group B teams to complete the scheduled eight races over the course of two days. But weather repeatedly described as “marginal” and “poor” had  resulted in shortened courses, postponed and abandoned races, adding to the challenges facing competitors. If a boat fell off its foils in insufficient air and touched-down, it was curtains. 

Group A was thwarted with failing breeze and the second day of their qualifier was consolidated into a one and done race. Athena Pathway, Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli and Emirates Team New Zealand persevered and earned the opportunity to face Group B qualifiers Swedish Challenge, Jajo Team Dutchsail and Sail Team BCN in the semifinals that same afternoon.

Lack of wind forced a twilight series of four rapid-fire races. The local Barcelona team won Race 1 of the semifinals to the raucous pleasure of the crowds. Luna Rossa and Athena Pathway traded first and second places in Race 2 and 3, with Sail Team BCN again capturing a bullet in Race 4. Watching that race at the Real Club Náutico the crowd was ecstatic, holding their collective breaths as the women fought around the course. Regardless of nationality or loyalty, spectators and viewers were captivated by the racing and enthusiastic about the finishes.

At the end, Luna Rossa and Athena Pathway were tied at the top of the leaderboard and advanced to the final, winner-take-all race, with Luna Rossa taking an eight-second lead over Athena Pathway to win the inaugural Puig Women’s America’s Cup regatta.

NYYC’s American Magic team didn’t make it into the semifinals, but it wasn’t for lack of effort or talent. 

“On of our biggest challenges was getting the crew together as many hours as possible,” said coach Charlie Ogletree. “Unlike the youth teams the women had other responsibilities and life decisions to consider.”

Erika Reineke was in the midst of an Olympic campaign, Francesca Clapcich was a member of 11th Hour Racing, Sara Stone was mid-bow on a TP52 and Helena Scutt had a vital fulltime position as one of NYYC’s mechatronics engineers. Only Louisa Nordstrom was available all summer. 

“Our team did an amazing job, especially considering such a steep learning curve,” Ogletree said. “One of the biggest criteria was having the skill to remain hyper-focused, with a high level of concentration at all times.”

Racing the AC40s, he said, requires rapid decision making and multitasking, at ridiculous speeds, considering speed,  boat speed of the other boats and the boundaries. 

“Decisions have to be made quickly, two to three moves ahead,” Ogletree said. “They’re traveling so fast the adjustments on the foils are constant, to keep the boat flying at the right height, angle, pitch: understanding how it all works and the ability to process this all and make decisions is paramount.”

He explained that even though they’re not lifting sails and pulling lines, the physical aspect is critical. It’s still a sailboat where too much mainsheet creates weather helm  and keeping the sail trimmed correctly—not too flat or too full—applies. But the underwater part is much more dynamic, and the need to process a lot of information instantaneously to maximize boat speed is critical.

“Certainly American Magic’s development of a high-performance sailing center in Pensacola proves the teams commitment to developing the next generation of sailors. And I would like to think the event was so successful, it would be hard to go backward from there,” Ogletree said.

“I never thought I’d be alive to witness that,” said Annie Gardner, a member of the 1995 America3 team and lifelong competitive sailor. “Watching those races live, and then the awards, brought tears to my eyes. It was such a positive experience.”

“This experience was completely different from the America’s Cup,” said photographer Sharon Green, who has captured scores of Cup events in her 40-plus year career. Instead of dock-out and dock-in to secretive compounds in the Old Port like the AC75 campaigns, the AC40 teams lined up on one wharf at the Olimpic Port, creating an esprit de corps and joyful atmosphere. There, Green said, “Crowds of families, friends and supporters cheered on their teams with flags, bells, horns and posters. It was a riot. Then when the teams returned to the docks after racing, even as some teams were eliminated, that same group of fans were there to cheer and clap for all the teams as they came in. There were lots of hugs between the teams and their supporters and competitors: it truly created a special and vibrant atmosphere of camaraderie and empowerment.” 

The women were ebullient, the energy palpable, and the support of the audiences deafening.

 

The Puig Women’s America’s Cup was modeled after the Youth America’s Cup first introduced at the 34th America’s Cup in San Francisco in 2013. The Youth program returned in 2017 at the Bermuda Cup and provided young sailors ages 18 to 25 an introduction to foiling catamarans aboard the AC45Fs.

There was no Youth America’s Cup in Auckland in 2021, despite the success of the event that propelled athletes like Peter Burling and a trio of his mates onto the ETNZ team for the 2024 Cup, in addition to the crew aboard Orient Express and Alinghi Red Bull Racing.

“When planning for the 37th America’s Cup, there was an understanding of the global talent of international women sailors, and the gap that existed for them being able to take the step up to be able to sail the AC75’s in the America’s Cup, and therefore a need to create a pathway,” said Hamish Hooper, communications manager for Emirates Team New Zealand. “So the idea of a Women’s America’s Cup emerged and a plan was implemented to create a pathway event that would give women sailors the ability to showcase their skills and get valuable experience in foiling monohull boats in addition to reinstating the youth event.

“Central to this happening was creating a class of boat that would nurture this pathway to the AC75 but at a smaller scale,” Hooper said, so Emirates Team New Zealand initiated the design and production of the AC40 class of boat.

The AC40 sports a 40-foot hull and nearly 20-foot rotating mast, soaring over the water like a rocket ship, perched on twin canting T-foils and a raking T-rudder, capable of attaining speeds up to 45 knots downwind and high 30s upwind.

“I am a big fan of the AC40s, as they remove any and all barriers for women sailors in relation to physical size and strength,” added Suzy Leech, co-leader of the NYYC Women’s and Youth America’s Cup Task Force, also a veteran of the women’s America3 campaign. “Skill development is dependent on equal access to the resources, time in the boat and simulator. Foiling classes such as Waszps, Moths and foiling cats are all relatively available development pathways for future female Cup sailors.”

To make all of this happen, within the Protocol for the 37th America’s Cup all teams were required to acquire at least one AC40, which would then be ‘pooled’ together to make up the fleet required for the Women’s and Youth America’s Cup. 

“It was a huge undertaking by a lot of people who worked tirelessly to make it all happen,” Hooper said. “The work was clearly worthwhile due to the overwhelming success of the Puig Women’s and UniCredit Youth America’s Cups.”

 

The Italian team was euphoric after the win.

“We know we are writing history because everyone is telling us, we have achieved something big. But for me it’s more about demonstrating our capacities on the boat. We cried for joy, but I still don’t realize it: I think it will take some time,” said Margherita Porro, one of Luna Rossa’s helmspersons.”

Historic, yes, as the winners in the first all-women’s America’s Cup event, but not to overlook the women who have gone before them. Women have been successfully invested in America’s Cup racing for 138 years, onboard and shoreside. But traditions of sailing as a male-dominated sport run deep. Consider that the Olympic Games established the first women’s sailing medals just 36 years ago, and only recently equalized the number of male and female events. Despite this, the successful America3 campaign and ongoing participation, the presence of women in the America’s Cup waned when boats began to fly. 

 

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Mr. Louis Vuitton Cup

Involved with the America’s Cup since the 1970s, Bruno Troublé looks back on the changes

The Louis Vuitton 37th America’s Cup in Barcelona this past October would not be the same without one of the biggest supporters of the 173-year-old competition, Frenchman Bruno Troublé who says although he misses the halcyon days of this cherished event, there is something to be said for keeping up with the times. 

“I love the ‘old lady’ so much, but I also don’t want to back horses when the train arrives,” said Troublé, 79, a 2007 America’s Cup Hall of Fame recipient who is known for being the impresario and ideas man behind the modern America’s Cup credited with creating the Louis Vuitton Challenger Series in 1983. 

“We have all seen the photographs of the classic and beautiful J-Boats, and without its history we really don’t have an America’s Cup, but we cannot stay stuck in the past,” Troublé said. “I personally miss the days of racing on the 12-meters and experiencing the closeness of that racing. I miss how you could see the shade of the other competitor’s jib. It was that close. But in many ways the fundamentals of competition and the closeness of the racing is not that different from the past.”  

During this year’s Cup match, the number of fans who flocked to the city surpassed expectations, while the America’s Cup 75s continue to showcase innovation in this premier sporting event. Emirates Team New Zealand won it against INEOS Britannia by 7-2. 

Troublé understands better than most that the America’s Cup must continue to evolve, as he himself has always been at the forefront of balancing the traditions of the Cup with innovation in commercial sponsorship. A Cup sailor with the French challenger teams in the 1970s, he was the architect of the Louis Vuitton challenger series in 1983, and until 2007, he worked with the French fashion house to brand an event like no other.

“The Kiwis are often criticized for turning the America’s Cup into a commercial venture, but they are a small country of four million people. They do not have the financial resources at home or individuals there willing to back a team,” Troublé said. “Making it commercially viable has been the only way for them to put it together.”

It is hoped that more teams will challenge for the Louis Vuitton 38th America’s Cup, but each existing or new team also faces huge financial hurdles. The return of Alinghi Red Bull Racing, funded by two-time America’s Cup winner Ernesto Bertarelli of Switzerland cost $280 million. The French team,  Orient Express Racing Team under the patronage of French president Emmanuel Macron cost $40 million while the New York Yacht Club’s American Magic cost an estimated $100 million.  

With the inaugural Puig Women’s America’s Cup, Troublé encouraged the L’Oréal Group to help sponsor the women’s event in Barcelona in part because 29 years ago in 1995, the company invested $3 million with America3 women’s team. The L’Oréal Group was honored during the America’s Cup Hall of Fame induction ceremony in Barcelona when crewmembers Linda Lindquist-Bishop and Suzy Leech shared insights of that campaign while marking the importance of the 2024 inaugural women’s event.

“I think that the Cup is making great steps forward and trying to make the racing very close, and the quality of the teams that they are building is great,” Troublé said. “Hosting a women’s and youth’s America’s Cup is the right direction, too.”--Laurie Fullerton

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What’s next for America?

After New York Yacht Club’s early exit from the America’s Cup, Terry Hutchinson shines a light on what is next for the American Magic team

American Magic’s skipper and President of Sailing Operations Terry Hutchinson is a man who holds his cards close to his vest. Following the team’s loss to Luna Rossa in the semi-finals, Hutchinson oversaw the team’s exit from Barcelona in early October, packing up the boat and equipment.

“I guess I’m doing ok. The team is doing OK. It’s hard to watch two teams we have beaten in races out there fighting it out for the Cup while we are on the sidelines packing everything up and heading home empty handed.”

Hutchinson said that one reason for the early exit was loss of port side helmsman Paul Goodison when he broke his ribs falling through an open hatch at the dock. He was replaced with Lucas Calabrese, who joined starboard helmsman Tommy Slingsby. With Goodison on the sidelines, the team only won three of eight races against the Italian Luna Rossa team.

“I have to think that if Paul hadn’t missed the racing because of the unfortunate accident, that we would still be in it. Tommy and Lucas did a great job of assimilating the loss, but when you’re up against teams with years of continuity, it’s tough to get everyone up to speed despite all your pre-race preparation.

American Magic’s AC 75 Patriot was shrink wrapped in preparation for the long trip back to Pensacola, Florida. All the thousands of pounds of gear and support boats were readied for transport. At full complement, the American Magic Barcelona team numbered around 160. Hutchinson was already looking ahead to the next Cup.

“The New York Yacht Club had committed to two cycles. It will be up to Doug DeVos and Hap Fauth to see if they have the fortitude to go on for a third and to find the funding. In the end, it’s all about the money and winning.”

Hutchinson said the next step is a frank assessment of the team’s recent performance. 

“We need to capitalize on what we did right; identify what we did wrong; improve on weaknesses and turn them into strengths,” he said. “Sounds simple. But this is a complex project.”

The Annapolis native believes American Magic has the elements to make another strong run.

“We built on our strong foundation after AC36. We can do the same, moving ahead. You take what you learn and go forward. We have all these wonderful assets. Great technology. Good team. Continuity wins America’s 

“In the final analysis, those guys are in control,” Hutchinson said of defender Emirates Team New Zealand. “We either decide to play their game or we don’t. Is it fair? Life isn’t fair. Sport isn’t fair. You accept their decisions or you don’t play.”

Hutchinson praised the American Magic youth and women’s team members. 

“I am incredibly proud of what they accomplished. Seeing those young sailors handle the controls, they seem to have a natural talent that transcends work in the SIM to sailing on the water,” he said. “Even Slingsby plays Xbox to keep his reflexes sharp.”

Hutchinson said he envisions casting a wider net for talent to populate these teams, leaving the door open for the possibility of a co-ed team should American Magic return to Cup racing.

“There is an incredible amount of young talent out there,” he said. “They have to work hard. Win races. Come to our attention. Nobody is entitled to be on the team. You have to want it bad and devote an incredible amount of time and effort to make it happen. The yacht club’s job is to provide a pathway. Young sailors have to seize the opportunities that are out there.” --Craig Ligibel