They are the winners of the last two editions of the America's Cup and face the challenge of remaining so once again, a feat no one has achieved for a long time. Both the Swiss Alinghi and the American Oracle came close. The Emirates Team New Zealand, captained by Grant Dalton, was the first team the city knew when it was announced that it had been chosen to host this historic regatta, an event largely unknown among Barcelonans, but not in New Zealand. "It's a competition with a lot of history for us and sailing is one of the country's great sports. When it starts, everyone follows it," says one of the members of the women's team, Erica Dawson, who assures that many of her compatriots will come to follow it.
Dawson arrived in Barcelona a few weeks ago, still with the hangover of having won a bronze medal at the Paris Olympic Games. Although she was somewhat tired, she could not let an opportunity like participating in the first Women's America's Cup, which will be held from September 28 to October 13, slip away. Throughout the more than 170 years of history of this competition, female sailors have been present, but only occasionally. Since 1995, almost 30 years ago, no woman had participated. "I've been following it since I was very little. Knowing that everyone knows the America's Cup in New Zealand and watches it, being part of it is very exciting," emphasizes the Olympic medalist.
One of her teammates, Gemma Jones, also feels this way, believing that a lot of interest has already been awakened, as evidenced by the sponsors secured. "Many people are saying, how can this be the first time? How can it be that it hasn't been done before?" Jones points out. But the key to success, she adds, will be for many female spectators to sit in front of the television and follow them. "This is something very big for women's sailing," her teammate maintains. For both, being able to be part of the competition gives them an experience they had never had before and would have been very difficult to achieve, with boats that are too expensive and do not prioritize them. "Girls will see us and be inspired, which will attract more women to the water," Dawson remarks.
In their case, they will not compete with the same boats as the men's teams, the AC75s ---with a length of 75 feet (about 23 meters)---, but will have the AC40s ---with a length of 40 feet (about 12 meters)---, as will the youth teams. In addition, all boats will be the same, regardless of the team, something very different from the men's competition and which ultimately gives victory to the best. The good thing will be that the women's regattas will be more entertaining, nothing like a head-to-head as they do, but all against all, giving adrenaline at every moment. Only in the final will they have the same format that has been seen for days in Barcelona waters with the preliminary regatta and the Round Robins that they star in.
Both Dawson and Jones occupy the position of trimmers in the Emirates Team New Zealand, that is, those who have to adjust the sails at all times according to weather conditions. Always with the goal of being the fastest. On the boat, they are accompanied by two helmswomen, who steer the rudder, completing a crew of four members, without the cyclists seen in the men's team. They train four days a week, "like the men," Jones does not forget to emphasize, someone who has this world in her DNA, not only because she saw it since she was little like Dawson but because her father is a New Zealand sailor who participated in many editions of the America's Cup.
Life at the Emirates Team New Zealand base begins at 8:30 AM for the sailors. Located in the old Baleària terminal, the known "Kiwis" have occupied a part of the building with their offices. There are the escalators that tourists once rode, laden with suitcases, to catch a ferry to the Balearic Islands. The ticket booths are even still there, standing but empty, where one of the jokes the team members make is to approach and ask for a ticket. It should not be forgotten that none of them will have had a vacation this summer and it remains to be seen what will happen after the competition, always waiting to see who the new winner will be. Next to the old terminal is the shed where the boats are kept, with the crown jewel, the AC75 of the men's team, named Taihoro, a name that in New Zealand Māori means, in a single word, "to move swiftly like the sea between the sky and the earth."
They start early, no following the later local schedule, because preparing the boat to go out for training or competing is not so easy. "It takes a long time," Jones explains. Between one and four in the afternoon, when there is better wind, it's time to go out to sea. They get on the boats with their faces, literally, white, bathed in sunscreen to protect themselves from the many hours they spend outdoors. The day ends at six-thirty in the afternoon, when it's time to go home, very close to the base, in a block where the rest of their teammates and the members of the youth team live. On their days off, what the sailors want most is simply to be in the shade. "The hardest part is that we are in the sun all day. On Sundays you just want to be in the dark and cool," says Jones, acknowledging that she hasn't had much time to visit anything yet but what she likes most is ham. Not forgetting the views of Barcelona they see from the boats.
With a Catalan accent
Although English is what is most heard at the Emirates Team New Zealand base, with an accent very difficult for the local ear, there is a Catalan among the more than 130 members of the team. In the design team, made up of 40 workers, is the industrial and aeronautical engineer Roger Frigola. Trained at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC), the Institut Supérieur de l'Aéronautique et de l'Espace (ISAE) in Toulouse and the University of Cambridge, Frigola has been working for the New Zealand team for ten years. Before, he had worked for Airbus, but also for Formula 1 teams such as McLaren, Red Bull and Ferrari, and has even done so for a local company such as Familia Torres.
With the Kiwis, he is responsible for defining the mathematical tools that allow the boat's performance to be optimized to the maximum, adjusting its shape to make it the best. Something that has to be adapted to each scenario, with a sea in the Catalan capital that has larger waves than those in previous locations, being less protected. With the forecast of being able to register waves of more than a meter in October, it has been necessary to adapt to guarantee one of the basic characteristics of this competition, making the boats fly. "So that no one gets angry, success is 50% team and 50% designers," he explains, "but the truth is that if one fails, you can't win."