America's Cup: An opportunity for next generation to shine next month in Sardinia.
by 38th America's Cup Media 21 Apr 21:28 AEST
Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli Women's Team - Winners - Puig Women's America's Cup, Final. - October 11, 2024 © Ian Roman / America's Cup
Never before in the long history of the America’s Cup has there been so much opportunity for the next generation of Women and Youth to come through to the pinnacle of the sport of sailing.
The pathways created in AC37 have lit the runway for the emerging talent to shine on the global stage and with the Louis Vuitton 38th America’s Cup Preliminary Regatta Sardinia, now just one month away, the talking and speculation stops and it’s all eyes on who can take it to the established stars.
Sardinia will be the first time in official America’s Cup racing where Women & Youth teams will compete on an equal footing against the senior squad sailors. Reputations are on the line, and for the three 50/50 split Women & Youth teams from Emirates Team New Zealand, GB1 and Luna Rossa, it’s a big moment.
Exact team line-ups will only be announced before midday on the first day of racing but looking at the recon of these three teams, patterns are emerging and we can speculate as to just who will be in those two-boat teams and what the chances are of success.
Emirates Team New Zealand have concentrated a lot of time on the water recently to sailing their newly reconfigured AC75 ‘Taihoro’ and the helming partnership that seems so consistent is that of Skipper Nathan Outteridge and newcomer Seb Menzies. On balance it seems likely that they will form the nucleus of the senior team whilst the likes of Jake Pye and Jo Aleh could helm as a duo in the Women & Youth team. Jo skippered the Kiwi team at the last Women’s America’s Cup and is hugely respected across the sailing world. Jake Pye meanwhile, is a rapid former International Moth World Champion. This will be a team to watch.
However, the Kiwis have considerable options and could well put 22 year old Menzies into the Women & Youth team and promote Chris Draper to helm spot on the senior team. Equally they have the talents of Olympian Josh Armit who also just qualifies for the Youth team (under 25), plus they have the considerable talents of Erica Dawson, Lena Sanderson and Serena Woodall so there's plenty of combinations and unknowns around the Defenders. It will be fascinating to see who emerges and who coaches Ray Davies and Sam Meech, and Chief Operating Officer Kevin Shoebridge, select in the final line-ups.
GB1 have been relatively settled in the senior team with Dylan Fletcher and Ben Cornish taking the helm regularly against the Athena Pathway team of CEO Hannah Mills. As reported by the team, in recent in-house racing in Cagliari it has been very close between the two and it seems likely that International Moth superstar Ryan Littlechild, will get the nod to helm alongside Mills for Sardinia.
Interestingly, GB1 has serious talent in their ranks with the likes of Olympic gold medallist Ellie Aldridge and Women’s International Moth World Champion Hattie Rogers to select from, alongside a host of new, exciting talent such as Finn Dickinson, Finn Morris and Sam Webb. Athena Pathway could well surprise to the upside and could certainly, with the talent and experience they have, win races at a canter.
Luna Rossa is the team that has done the most AC40 training in the lead-up to Sardinia and as the sessions have gone on, the helms have been rotating and the rivalry fierce. The likely helming line-up on the senior team is a combination of three-time Cup winner Peter Burling and double Olympic gold medallist Ruggero Tita.
Meanwhile, the obvious leader for the Women & Youth team is 22-year-old Marco Gradoni and it’s highly likely that he will be joined by Women’s America’s Cup winner, Margherita Porro. Gradoni & Porro are the duo that everyone is fearing, and one that many pundits are tipping to be contesting the final. They will care little about reputations and will have the hammer down for the whole regatta with Marco and Margherita both eyeing a position on the AC75 in Naples. A fascinating storyline waiting to be told.
Elsewhere, La Roche-Posay will more than certainly field Quentin Delapierre and Diego Botín as helms for Sardinia, but if results don’t come, they do have the mercurial talents of Enzo Balanger to call upon and under the regatta rules they have the possibility to make a change mid-regatta. One to watch out for, for sure.
Tudor Team Alinghi will be looking at Nicolas Rolaz to deliver a good result, and although the full sailing team team is yet to be announced, rumours are that an Olympic gold medallist and former International Moth World Champion could be onboard. That sort of firepower would mean that Tudor Team Alinghi can not be under-estimated, and recent two boat training in Barcelona, in private, has been both fast and furious as new sailing combinations come together and the team start to gel.
With the starting line in sight for Sardinia, and the beautiful waters of the Bay of Angels in Cagliari ready to welcome not only the greatest sailors of today but the finest sailors of tomorrow too, the first Preliminary Regatta of the Louis Vuitton 38th America’s Cup promises so much.
Headlines will be written. Reputations will be on the line. There are new faces everywhere you look and the most exciting America’s Cup in 175 years is about to launch in spectacular fashion.