The RS Feva's Journey to the America's Cup

by Teagan Rowlands on 8 Jun 2017 The America's Cup is the world's most prestigious sailing event and RS Sailing is extremely proud to be a part of the 2017 spectacle with the RS Feva featuring in the America's Cup Junior Endeavour Regatta.

Sixteen teams from all over the world will compete in four days of racing, with the culmination taking place on the 18th June during the 'Half-Time' show racing between the official America's Cup finish line and the America's Cup Village Grandstand. And what a session of racing it'll be! The course will be surrounded by super yachts and filmed on high-tech drones – this is an event our young RS Feva sailors will never forget.

So how did the internationally acclaimed junior double handed RS Feva become to be part of such a prestigious event? Well, other than Russell Coutts himself selecting the boat, the RS Feva encompasses everything the Endeavour Program aims to deliver.

The Endeavour Program, in short, links the grass roots of sailing with the F1 of the sport. It is the link that makes this sport great, bringing together both children and adults from all walks of life for a common cause – to sail. There are few other sports in the world that do not discriminate against age, gender or physical ability. A child can race an adult on a level playing field. Sailing is linked to subjects such as science and maths that children might fall short at in school but sailing helps develop as well as practical life skills. The benefits are endless.

So we are proud to be involved because the event itself shows racing in its purest form and the program demonstrates how an entirely new generation can access what is often perceived to be an unattainable sport.

The RS Feva children, all of whom are under 15 years old are from all over the world and perfectly demonstrate the diverse routes as to how people can get involved in sailing and grow their skills. This regatta is bringing together people from all backgrounds for a common goal. They will all descend on a desert island in the middle of an ocean for a week and usually that might be a scary thing but we all know these kids have a huge amount in common; an enthusiasm and love of sailing.

All the teams submitted written entries along with hundreds of other hopefuls to their country's RS Feva Class Association and each country had its own way of selecting the final teams. The UK took a fair approach and decided to pick teams out of a hat (or a box). You can find information about each of the teams on both the RS Feva Facebook page as well as the International Class Association website.

The RS Feva is a modern, exciting boat that youth sailors really enjoy and thrive in. The beauty of it is that we have young people from all sailing backgrounds in these boats as well as also new-comers to the sport who jump straight in and learn their skills there too. It trains sailors for both asymmetric and conventional spinnaker boats giving their future sailing career a lot more scope from early on. The ethos of the class is to be inclusive and fun for all while the best really can prepare for stardom. The RS Feva fit has been proven to retain sailors in the sport and develop potential stars. So maybe we will see some of these sailors return to the America's Cup in a few years time!

We wish all the sailors competing in the America's Cup Junior Endeavour RS Feva Regatta the best of luck!

More Information:

• www.rssailing.com
• www.americascup.com/en/americas-cup-endeavour-junior-regattas.html