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When John Bertrand crossed the America’s Cup finish line 40 years ago on Australia II, he broke a 132-year winning streak and became the first and only Australian team to claim the title.
Next year, Australia will get its chance again to carve a new slice of sailing history when they send a team to Barcelona for the 37th America’s Cup to compete in the first women’s competition.
Nina Curtis will be the Australian Women’s Challenge team skipper along with Olivia Price.Credit: Salty Dingo 2023 BH
“It’s quite extraordinary, and it’s something that I’ve always wanted in my sailing career, but never thought possible,” said Nina Curtis, an Olympic silver medallist who has been selected as one of the team’s skippers alongside Olivia Price.
“And you actually think about that, and there are so many things wrong with that. Just because you’re a female sailor I’ve always considered it out of my reach. And I do actually think that this women’s league within the America’s Cup is just a small step in the right direction of getting equity in the sport.”
Billed as the newest competition for the world’s oldest sporting trophy, Australia will be one of 12 nations in the women’s competition and will compete in the new AC40 foiling yachts, designed by Emirates Team New Zealand.
The 12 teams, made up of four sailors per team, will be split across two pools. The top three teams from each pool will compete in a four-race series to decide the top two, who will then go head-to-head to decide the overall winner.
Australian sailing great John Bertrand AO.Credit: Eamon Gallagher
The 37th Cup marks the third time a youth competition, for people aged 18-25, will be held at the prestigious sailing event, with Australia sending a team.
“To have such an event like the America’s Cup – it’s the longest-running sporting event in modern history – and to have women and youth involved at this level is a breakthrough,” said Australian sailing great Bertrand, who has been named as a patron of the Team Australia Challenge alongside John Winning jnr, skipper of Sydney to Hobart super yacht Andoo Comanche.
“The America’s Cup is still probably the most prestigious sporting event in the world … and so under this umbrella of super prestige, having this women’s team and youth team launched for the first time is a unique opportunity.”
The expansion of the competition won’t just benefit female sailors, Curtis said. She said it will also open up other parts of the industry.
“It’s huge, and it goes beyond just sailing as well. It gets into the sailing industry, you’re hoping to have female designers and engineers inspired by it, and builders and sailmakers. It’s just so underrepresented, females in that avenue in the sport, and so prestigious for that next generation of young people,” Curtis said.
“Growing up, I was kind of told time and time again that there’s just no sport for me in this arena, and for people to see it and for it to be a reality should be enough to really, quickly, shut down that skills gap.”
The Australian women’s team are now taking expressions of interest from experienced sailors to join Curtis and Price in their four-person team.
Australia will not compete in the men’s America’s Cup competition next year. The current defender in the men’s division is Emirates Team New Zealand, representing the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron.
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