Talented squad of applicants for Youth and Women's America's Cup

By Ivor Wilkins

More than 120 would-be candidates from around New Zealand have answered the call for applications to represent Emirates Team New Zealand and the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron at the Women’s and Youth America’s Cup – providing the selection panel with a pool of “exceptional calibre” from which to draw its final squad.

The Women’s and Youth America’s Cup Events will be raced in the one design AC40 class in the weeks leading up to and during the America’s Cup in Barcelona next year. There will be 12 teams from 12 nations competing in each event.

For the Youth America’s Cup, competitors must be aged between 18 and 25, with no gender specification – crews can opt for mixed gender, all-male, or all-female lineups. For the Women’s America’s Cup, the only stipulation is that the crew must be 18 years or older.

“We received applications from 121 people in total,” says Emirates Team New Zealand’s Elise Beavis, who, with Josh Junior, will assess the applications before narrowing them down to 20 from each category.

These will then be presented to the seven-person selection panel, who will choose eight short-listed candidates in each category. The Selection panel is made up of:

• Josh Junior – Emirates Team New Zealand Sailor & Programme Lead

• Kevin Shoebridge – Emirates Team New Zealand COO

• Gillian Williams – RNZYS Vice Commodore

• Suzanne McFadden – Award winning Sports Journalist

• Polly Powrie – Olympic 470 Gold & Silver Medallist

• Ray Davies – Emirates Team New Zealand Coach

The shortlisted sailors will spend a week at Emirates Team New Zealand being assessed on a number of levels including AC40 simulator sailing, team participation and attitude. Upon completion of that process, the final teams of five sailors each will be selected by the Selection Panel in December of this year.

Of the 121 applications received, 100 comprising both men and women fell within the youth age bracket. All the female applicants who met the youth age criteria, applied for both categories.

“We had applications from women aged 18 to almost 50,” Beavis notes. “There were fewer and fewer applicants as age increased. There were 31 youth female applicants, which is a really exciting area as they are eligible for both teams and are the sailors which junior female sailors will be looking to as role models.”

More than 20 of the male and female youth applicants were under 19-years-old, including some “very strong” candidates, according to Beavis.

Some applicants had no sailing background, but more than 30% have foiling experience, ranging from single handed dinghies such as Moths and WASZPs, to wind foilers and wind surfers, through to high performance larger team boats such as the 69F. Some had F50 and/or AC40 experience.

There are four Olympic medals among the applicants and many more medals from world championships in Olympic classes, youth classes and match racing events.

“Overall the calibre of the applicants is exceptional,” says RNZYS Vice Commodore Gillian Williams, who was hopeful that members or graduates from the Mastercard Youth Programme would be among the candidates to make the final cut.

Josh Junior, who leads the selection process, said the strategy is to develop high performing teams that can win and represent New Zealand “with pride, passion, and professionalism on and off the water”.

“One of the strengths of Emirates Team New Zealand over its 30 year history has always been to continue to grow the team by integrating new talent across the board,” says Chief Operating Officer Kevin Shoebridge.

“So this is a really exciting and vitally important selection process to go through when thinking of the next generation of Emirates Team New Zealand.”

AC37 will be the first to include a Women’s America’s Cup, but New Zealand has an extraordinary record at the two previous Youth America’s Cups. A crew led by Peter Burling won the inaugural youth event in San Francisco in 2013, with another Kiwi crew skippered by Will Tiller finishing a close second.

At the Bermuda America’s Cup in 2017, the New Zealand team, led by Logan Dunning Beck, came agonisingly close to defending the title, but did well to take the silver medal.

• Emirates Team New Zealand is directly investing in the future of New Zealand’s world class sailing talent by purchasing a new fleet of 10 Elliott 7 yachts for the RNZYS Mastercard Youth Training and Performance Programmes, which have long been globally regarded as world leading youth ttraining for performance keel boat sailors.

The RNZYS Mastercard Youth Training Programme, now in its 36th year, has produced more than 1200 graduates, including some who have risen to the highest levels of the sport. Recent examples are Nick EgnotJohnson 2022 Open Match Racing World Champion, and Celia Willison second in the 2022 Barfoot & Thompson Women’s Match Racing World Championship.

RNZYS Commodore Andrew Aitken said, “I am absolutely delighted by the investment that Emirates Team New Zealand is making to support these programmes. The enduring legacy of this new fleet will shape the future sailors of today and tomorrow.”

Noted Emirates Team New Zealand CEO Grant Dalton: “This Programme is one of the cornerstones of the development of New Zealand sailing talent. It is the pathway from teenage enthusiasts to high performance sailors in New Zealand, and around the world.

“So, we are happy to be able to continue to support it by refreshing the fleet of Elliott 7’s, the legacy of which will go well beyond the physical boats themselves.”