As the intense focus for Emirates Team New Zealand is on the start of the Preliminary Regatta in two weeks’ time, the injection of the Women’s & Youth sailors has added another element to the teams overall preparations for the Louis Vuitton 37th America’s Cup in Barcelona.
Gemma Jones and Liv Mackay from the Emirates Team New Zealand Women’s team joined youth sailors Leo Takahashi, Oscar Gunn and Seb Menzies on their first outing on the AC40 Te Kakahi in Barcelona on a light air, 30 degree day with an ever growing fleet of AC40’s.
“It’s hot, that’s for sure.” said Gemma Jones fresh from arriving from the New Zealand winter.
“But it’s pretty cool to see all the other boats out, the AC75’s the other AC40’s which have been racing and lining up against each other, so we’re excited to actually race against other boats and see how we line up and where we sit. Then we’ll look at what we need to work on next.”
It is widely recognised that the 12 strong fleets in both the Puig Women & Unicredit Youth America’s Cup are full of exciting talent, a number of sailors arriving with recently minted and past Olympic medals around their necks.
An often spoken philosophy of ‘time in the boat’ being a factor all teams are chasing with several teams having been based in Barcelona training for the past couple of months getting to grips with the dynamic AC40’s and the local sailing conditions. A factor with Seb Menzies was quick to recognise after the first day on the water.
“It was a really fun day, pretty light breeze which was good conditions to get back into sailing the AC40. There were bigger waves than we’ve ever sailed in, but good to get our head around that and having some marginal take offs which we were all putting 100% focus into. It was really exciting to see what we can do and where we need to be by race time.”
Like the full Emirates Team New Zealand team, the clock is ticking down for the Women and Youth sailors to their respective events with the remaining Women & Youth sailors who have been competing at the Paris Olympics in Marseille, Jo Aleh, Molly Meech, Veerle ten Have, Josh Armit and one of New Zealand’s latest Olympic medallist Erica Dawson joining the team in Barcelona in the next week to continue their preparations.
PHOTO CREDIT: World Sailing / Lloyd Images
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