Puig Women's America's Cup heralds a new dawn as female sailors take centre stage
by America's Cup Media 14 Oct 2024 16:33 BST
Puig Women's America's Cup Prize Giving © Ivo Rovira / America's Cup
Without doubt, one of the highlights of the summer of sailing in Barcelona, the Puig Women's America's Cup, not only delivered from a sailing standpoint but also heralded a new dawn in women's elite sailing, lighting a bright pathway to the future of the America's Cup.
From the outset the programme was ambitious, recognising that the opportunity to sail in high performance foiling yachts was limited and that the skills-gap needed to be narrowed. With the outstanding support of Puig, one of the world's leading fashion and beauty companies, the building blocks for the Puig Women's America's Cup could be assebled and the global interest the event engendered was encouraging.
Alongside the established America's Cup teams who all fielded impressively well-trained athletes, Invited Teams representing yacht clubs from Spain, Sweden, Netherlands, Canada, Australia and Germany registered their intent and began extensive training programs. Many concentrated on simulator time but some, like the Swedish, bought their own AC40 yacht and offered valuable on-water training time to their crews.
As the event neared, the excitement levels rose and an opening four races between the America's Cup Teams was some of the closest and most intriguing fleet racing that we have ever witnessed in foiling yachts. Then came two days of racing with the Invited Teams and across eight races we saw everything - lead changes aplenty and spills and thrills.
Silvia Mas, skipper of Sail Team BCN, observed: "It's been an incredible event, it's the first time there has been an America's Cup for women. To see the twelve teams on the start line was amazing, it was a hard battle, and you could see that race after race the teams were getting better and it was getting tighter. I think this is a huge door that is opening for the next generations and I'm sure in the future we will see the women on the big boats with the men."
"The level of the fleet was incredible, among these women there were a lot of Olympic medallists, golds, world races. It was amazing to see women of such a high level competing together on the start line, and even more so in these high-tech flying boats from which you are constantly learning. Definitely, the best experience of my life."
What emerged from the two groupings was real talent - no surprise considering in that in total there were no less than 17 Olympic medals represented on the racectrack. The stand outs were Athena Pathway, Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli, Sail Team BCN, JAJO Team DutchSail, Swedish Challenge powered by Artemis Technologies and Emirates Team New Zealand, who contested a late afternoon, four-race Semi-Final that was notable for its intensity. Sail Team BCN won two races but rued a poor result in the second race and in a series that rewarded consistency, Athena Pathway and Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli emerged on top and advanced to the match-race final.
Set in the glare of the global broadcast in-between the first two races of the Louis Vuitton 37th America's Cup, the spectacle that Athena Pathway and Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli put on was worthy of any America's Cup duel. It was tight from the start with the Italians gaining the tiniest of leverages and eking out a small gain. From there they defended like heroes over four laps of the course and survived a late charge by the British on the final downwind leg to win and become the very first Puig Women's America's Cup Champions.
Led by the outstanding Olympic talent of Giulia Conti, co-helmed by Margherita Porro, and with trimmers Maria Giubilei and Giulia Fava, the Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli Team were the worthiest of winners.
Accepting their award on the evening of Sunday October 13 on the main stage of the Race Village from the Puig Brand Ambassador, entrepreneur and model, Karlie Kloss, they raised the magnificent trophy in triumph and became beacons for the sport and icons to thousands of girls around the world who now have a clear pathway and target to make it to the apex of sailing - the America's Cup.
The Mayor of Barcelona, Jaume Collboni, spoke at the awards saying: "The Puig Women's America's Cup is more than a regatta. It is the symbol of the conquest of equality, of the empowerment of women also in the world of sport, and of a fairer future. What has happened here this week will encourage many young women around the world to also compete and follow their passion and show that for women athletes there are no limits. There are no limits!"
Speaking afterwards Giulia Conti, Skipper of the winning Puig Women's America's Cup team, Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli was elated, saying: "I think it's a huge stepping stone in the history of sailing, especially for women. When I was a little girl I was always looking up at Luna Rossa, but I was always seeing the guys and I never saw a woman, but I think we showed the whole world what we are capable of and how well we can sail."
Asked what she would say to young girls aspiring to be like her, Conti added: "Dream big, because dreams can actually be achieved. For myself, I had a very long journey through three Olympic Games and never achieved that medal that I really wanted so badly. I had the opportunity to come back in the Puig Women's America's Cup and it's the most amazing feeling ever, so never give up on your dreams because someday it can happen."
Britain's most decorated female Olympic sailor, Hannah Mills OBE, spoke about the impact of the Puig Women's America's Cup, saying: "Ben Ainslie and I set up Athena Pathway, to try to inspire, particularly, young girls coming through the sport of sailing - or ones who might want to try sailing - to showcase that there is much more opportunity coming, whether it's on the water, racing, or off the water in shoreside roles. We've really delivered on that in terms of what we've created here, so that for me is everything."
John Bertrand, the America's Cup winning skipper of Australia II who ended the New York Yacht Club's 132-year tenure over the competition, spoke about the Puig Women's America's Cup saying: "The Kiwis and in particular Grant Dalton need to be congratulated. To conceive the AC40 as part of the entry fee into the 37th America's Cup was a big picture master stroke. The beneficiary was the inaugural Puig Women's America's Cup sailed not only in state-of-the-art AC40 foilers but broadcast to a worldwide audience. The racing, the television pictures, the commentary were all to a level not seen before. The standard of racing was world class. This has now launched Australia back into the Cup through our women sailors. Exciting times."
Olivia Price, skipper of Andoo Team Australia, further added: "The Puig Women's America's Cup has been an incredible platform to help close the gap for women at the pinnacle of our sport. No one can argue that we had some of the best sailors in the world and some of the best racing of the America's Cup. We have shown what we can do with time on these boats. Every hour we spent sailing helped bridge the gap, imagine what we could do with more time. The boats are incredible, and it has been an awesome opportunity to sail them. I am smiling just thinking about how much fun we had, but also, the ability to close the gap and compete under an Australian flag. Australia wants more time. We will look to be part of an AC40 circuit if there is one going forward, and we will look to move forward with this as a pathway for Australian sailors, and women, to keep competing for Australia. The door is open now and we won't be stopping - now is the time."
Odile van Aanholt, Olympic gold medallist from Paris 2024 and skipper of JAJO Team DutchSail commented: "It felt really empowering to sail these boats with four girls onboard because I've never seen that before in these types of boats. I can't wait for the future. It felt a very emotional week and I'd say with the level that we've already shown we've got a lot of potential for the future and that's very exciting. Thank you very much for organising such a great event."
Sara Stone, skipper and helm of NYYC American Magic reflected on the event saying: "Participating in the first-ever Puig Women's America's Cup was an incredible experience and opened the door to the America's Cup for us through our involvement with the larger American Magic team. We are proud to have been part of this historic event and to have left our mark, as well as that of American Magic, in the America's Cup history books."
"With 12 teams of top female sailors from around the world, the level of competition was high, despite the imbalances in boat access and training time. While we didn't achieve the results we had set out for, we raced every race through to the finish and continued to improve across the variety of weather conditions we faced. We hope this event will continue long into the future and forever change the pathway for women in high-performance sailing. We look forward to the day when younger generations of sailors see women racing in the Puig Women's America's Cup, and the America's Cup itself, as a regular occurrence."
Julia Gross, helm of Swedish Challenge powered by Artemis Technologies, summed it up beautifully: "What an incredible week of sailing! The racing we had against the other teams were so tight, thrilling and something totally new. It has been a great introduction for women into high-speed foiling boats and we want more. The Swedish Challenge looks back at the week with so much joy. Let's start with the dock-outs, the amount of support and cheering - pure happiness! Racing in offshore breeze with 7-20 knots, wow how exciting wasn't that! Crossing the finish line at 45 knots of boat speed is something we can get used to. The pinnacle, however, was to stand alongside the best women in the world, competitive on the water but such a great camaraderie on shore."
The Puig Women's America's Cup achieved on every level, on every metric, and the resonance around the sailing world from the very top to the grass roots of the sport cannot be underestimated. Grant Dalton, CEO of America's Cup Events, sees a bright future: "It was always obvious to us that women's sailing in the America's Cup needed a kick-start and with the support of Puig and the excellent guidance of Abby Ehler and Daryl Wislang, what's been achieved here in Barcelona is nothing short of remarkable. The athletes not only performed but put themselves on the radar of current and future Cup teams and there's no going back. This is just the start for female athletes to earn their places, by right and by experience, on future America's Cup boats."
The future for women's sailing has never looked brighter this stunning inaugural edition of the Puig Women's America's Cup.