Great to see the squad finally on the water in Barcelona as they start to get the feel of the real thing after hundreds of hours on the simulator back in Sydney. Good luck to both the Youth and the Women’s teams over the next few weeks. Nic Douglass from Adventures of a Sailor Girl is the Head of Content for the Team and had this to say:
Today the Andoo Team Australia Youth America’s Cup team was out on the water for the first official practice day of the UniCredit Youth America’s Cup.
To start with it was about safety, and two of the Andoo Team Australia sailors were paired with two Emirates Team New Zealand sailors to check off the competencies needed to race the boat. Other invited teams who haven’t had their own AC40 were required to do the same.
After passing all of the requirements, all four of the sailors for the day, Skipper, Cole Tapper (port helm), Jack Ferguson (starboard helm), Tom Needham (port trim), and Max Paul (starboard trim), were able to sail as a team, in full, for the first time.
Annie Wilmot, George RIchardson and Miles Davey, also members of the squad, watched on from chase boats with coach Harry Price.
With only two more days of practice before the racing kicks off, it is a seriously steep learning curve for these sailors, “a vertical learning curve”, said Cole Tapper.
Thank you to all who helped us get here!
@Team Australia Challenge 2024
@sailorgirlHQ
