Québec Yachting
Team Canada’s women’s team will make history by competing in the America’s Cup for the first time next year. In addition to the women, we will send a youth team to Barcelona, Spain. After 137 years as a men’s sport, women and youth will compete for their own America’s Cup trophy!
The Team Canada crew will be steered and skippered by Isabella Bertold, Canada’s top runner who ranks second in the world. The CEO of Team Canada will be Jim Turner, an Olympian, 15-time world champion and three-time America’s Cup runner.
“Sailing is a unique sport in that men and women can compete on equal footing. I know that because I grew up competing against men. I then won several World Cup medals and managed to climb to 2e rank in the world rankings,” said Isabella Bertold.
The Team Canada youth crew will be made up of female and male sailors under the age of 25. The youth team will be led by Royal Van member and highly accomplished world class sailor Andrew Wood. This will be the third time the youngsters will take part in the America’s Cup. They will compete in the same four-person AC 40s as the women.
The Team Canada training center will be located at Royal Vancouver Yacht Club Jericho facilities and in Auckland, New Zealand. Canada’s best sailors and youngsters will be recruited to compete in the first-ever America’s Cup.
“This is an opportunity to gain global recognition for the advancement of women and youth, to showcase Canada’s world-class sailors and to create a foundation for future generations of top competitors” said Jim Turner.
The race will feature twelve identical 40ft carbon composite foiling monohull sailboats – one for each country – with four sailors reaching speeds of up to 75 kilometers per hour.
America’s Race will take place in October 2024 and will air on 55 major global television networks with a reach of 941 million viewers.
In the summer of 2024, the AC40 racing boat will be available to the public in Vancouver at a beachside experience center that will include a simulator for team training.
“We will propel Canadian women and young people to the forefront of competitive racing on the great world stage of 37e America’s Cup while creating a platform for the next generation of world-class top sailors and America’s Cup competitors for our country,” said Jim Turner.
Source : Royal Vancouver Yacht Club
Translation: By Joani Hotte-Jean