It has taken 174 years for the America's Cup to include a women's category. And it will debut, coincidentally —or not— in Barcelona. The five female sailors of the team will not only compete in the first edition of this category's history, but they will do so in the first team to participate in the America's Cup representing Barcelona. They will do so alongside the members of the youth team, with seven boys and one girl who will pave the way for new generations of sailors in what will be the third edition of the youth category in the America's Cup. All of them are coached by world champion Mónica Azón, who trusts that this will be the first edition of Sail Team BCN, but not the last: "We want the project that has emerged from the team to continue in the next edition of juniors and women."
The team, made up of about 20 people in total, has recently settled into the base, which is finalizing its launch. Made up of recycled shipping containers that were no longer used for maritime transport, the base began to be built in July, and the athletes have been living in the space since the end of August, located near Ineos Britannia, which is already competing in the elimination races, and the old Imax, now revived to host the America's Cup Experience interpretive center.
After a few days away from the competition to catch their breath for what will be intense weeks, the sailors began to arrive at the base on Monday, and the team was complete this Thursday, with maximum energy to face the challenge of participating in the first America's Cup with Barcelona representation. For their training, they will maintain a routine and rhythm similar to what they followed in Sitges, where the team had been based until about two months ago, when they moved to Barcelona. Since then and until the base was ready, the team has operated from the Real Club Náutico de Barcelona.
Now, the base is practically ready, and with the sailors prepared to continue training for their respective regattas: first will come the youth regatta, from September 17 to 26, and then the women's, from October 5 to 13, both with the renovated Port Olímpic as the epicenter. The recycled maritime containers, provided by the Catalan company 2ndChance Containers, house the simulator with which the sailors train, as well as meeting rooms and other facilities, in addition to photovoltaic panel roofs that supply a base that aspires to be "sustainable, with zero emissions and zero plastic use."
The containers that form the base also include space for material for the boat they train with, a catamaran that flies, the GC32. It is the boat they train with, but not the boat they will compete with: the AC40. The six teams invited to the youth and women's regattas will not practice with this vessel until a few days before the competition starts, with four days of training each in total. The rest of the invited teams, who will compete with the other six in the total America's Cup category, are in the same conditions, except for the Swedish Artemis Racing, which does have its own boat.
Thus, the teams from Canada, Germany, Australia, and the Netherlands are in the same situation as Sail Team BCN, and that is that buying an AC40 is within reach of few: its price ranges between two and three million euros, to which high logistical costs are added. By not having its own boat, the Sail Team BCN team does not require a structure as extensive as that of the 37th America's Cup teams, which have more than a hundred professionals, four times more than the Barcelona team: "Since the organization provides the boat, we don't have to have developers or a design team; we also don't need a ground crew, because the organization also provides it. What we have to do is have the sailors train."
And training is what they do. The team follows training routines that start early: at 8:30 in the morning they are already at the base for a first briefing. Afterwards, one team goes to the simulator, while the other dedicates the morning to physical and theoretical preparation. These sessions have included various courses promoted by the America's Cup organization, ranging from rules and regulations to first aid and sea rescue, where they learned how to act in case of an accident and how to save another person if the situation arose. "These are boats that carry a risk and you must know how to act to be able to help a teammate or yourself."
After a team lunch, it's time to go out to sea, in sessions that have often included getting close to the 37th America's Cup teams to watch them train. "These are very intense days, of more than 12 hours of work," says Azón. The routine will change when the youth competition begins: then, the juniors will compete and the female team sailors will give them technical support, and then the roles will be exchanged when the young people finish and the women begin: "The idea is to keep the whole team here."
This period will be intense for all team members, but for one it will be even more so, if possible: Neus Ballester is part of both the youth and women's teams. In fact, she is the only girl on the junior team, also made up of Albert Torres, Marcos Fernández, Martín Wizner, Conrad Konitzer, Nico Martin, Jaime Framis and Antonio Torrado, all between 18 and 26 years old.
In addition to Ballester, the sailors who will make history by participating in the first women's America's Cup from Sail Team BCN will be Támara Echegoyen, Maria Cantero, Silvia Mas and Paula Barceló. The sailors share an apartment, while the members of the youth team have chosen to stay at the Barcelona International Sailing Center (Bisc), located in the Port Olímpic. For getting around, the team has a favorite mode of transport: the bicycle.
A few days before being able to start testing the AC40, Sail Team BCN is focused on its own evolution, and not so much on that of its competitors. The invited teams were able to compete against the rest of them through online races with the simulator. "It's not the same as the AC40, but the results were good," reveals Azón.
The team sets a clear objective: to qualify among the invited teams and advance from the phase, in which the three best invited teams and the three best from the America's Cup will compete to decide the two that will contend in the final. But, in the case of Sail Team BCN, what is important is not only the result, but also the legacy, and that the team has continuity in future editions of the America's Cup: "If it has all been for a sporadic edition, it would be a shame. It is important that everything this generation of women and young people has learned endures for the next edition."