Final Training Camp For Team BDA Candidates
Only about half of the 30 remaining candidates trying to make Bermuda’s Red Bull Youth America’s Cup team will advance following a spring training camp next week.
Team BDA candidates have been invited to the camp from March 23 to March 27, which will take place at several locations around the island, including the Oracle Team USA base in Dockyard and Darrell’s Island, where coaches will have a close eye over the athletes and sailors as once again they are put through intensive physical training, sailing drills, and mental tasks.
Craig Brown, vice-chair of the Red Bull Youth America’s Cup Committee, said, “The coaches will also have comparative fitness data on each of the candidates from the winter training camp and can use that information to determine who has made the most progress since then.”
The Team BDA Committee has released a video on social media that sheds light on the programme’s selection process to date.
What does it take to make Team BDA?
Team BDA is on track to identify a squad of 18 or fewer sailors and athletes who, with intensive training and coaching, will be equipped to compete with the world’s best young sailors in foiling high performance catamarans.
The final racing team will consist of six Red Bull Youth America’s Cup squad members, with others supporting as training partners and a shore team.
Mr. Brown said, “After this camp our mindset will shift. The candidates will no longer be a collection of sailors and athletes, but Team BDA – a single unit, coming together to represent their country, chasing a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”
Team BDA will train and race in the Great Sound before a hometown crowd as they face other youth teams from around the world in June 2017. The Red Bull Youth America’s Cup in Bermuda will take place on one-design foiling AC45 catamarans – the same boats the professionals used in October’s Louis Vuitton America’s Cup World Series.
