The Women’s squad for Andoo Team Australia bowed out of the Puig Women’s America’s Cup qualifying series in a tightly fought for fourth place today in Barcelona.
In a day of fluky weather that saw a resurgent Artemis Swedish Team re-find their form to win all four races and a dominant performance from the JaJo Team DutchSail it was left to Australia and the local Spanish Sail Team Barcelona to vie for the third spot cut off for invited teams to go through to the semi-final.
After coming out with a strong second place in the first race of the day, Australia scrambled to score three subsequent fourth placings, falling short of the cut-off by 5 points.
A disappointed Skipper Olivia Price said the winning teams were able to put the pieces of the puzzle together a little bit better on the day in the highly complex conditions. The Australians came off the foils while avoiding other yachts in variable breezes that played havoc with the whole fleet.
“It was really tough – conditions threw everything at us, as it did our competitors. We are racing against the world’s best and the girls that beat us in first second and third did a fantastic job today.”
The intense conditions saw a helmet swept off one of the German sailors forcing them to miss a a race and a massive pitch pole from the Canadian team causing boat damage that meant the Group A races later in the day had to be postponed so the swap boat could be repaired overnight.
Price said understanding how the boat would respond in the conditions and their execution went against them today, however the team fought to the finish with the tenacious local Spanish sailors getting the better of the conditions on the day.
“We have been part of something pretty special and we are going to take a moment to celebrate what we are part of, as much as the result hurt for us.
“We wanted to come here and be really competitive and I think we did that. It has been fantastic to be a part of and represent Australia back in the Cup.”
She thanked all the team of Youth and Women sailors and the volunteer supporters, families and fans who helped make the campaign a reality.
“This was hopefully the first step to move us towards Australia being back in the America’s Cup. It does mean a lot to us as a team to be representing our flag and the boxing kangaroo. I am filled with pride, and the time starts now to plan for the future as Australia is here to stay.” she said.
Andoo Team Australia CEO Peter Wrigley congratulated his teams. “We are all so proud of what both our Women’s & Youth teams have achieved. They have done themselves and our country proud.”
The Andoo Australia Women’s squad was led by Skipper Olivia Price, with co-helm Laura Harding and trimmers Lisa Darmanin and Annie Wilmot, and support crew Sarah Hoffman, Zoe Thomson and Nina Curtis with Coaches Harry Price and Victor Paya.
