Red Bull Youth America’s Cup Pools Announced
TeamBDA, Bermuda’s own Red Bull Youth America’s Cup team, will compete in the first round of racing this June in the Great Sound, against teams from New Zealand, Britain, Spain, USA and Austria
Two-time Olympic Gold Medalists Roman Hagara and Hans Peter Steinacher announced the lineups for the two pools of top national youth teams that will compete in the Red Bull Youth America’s Cup in Bermuda this summer.
As the Sport Directors for the regatta for sailors aged 18 to 24, the legends from Austria flew to the America’s Cup Event Authority headquarters in Bermuda to make the blind draw among the 12 teams that had already been named to the event, with results as follows:
Pool A
- Artemis Youth Racing [Sweden]
- Team France Jeune [France]
- Kaijin Team Japan [Japan]
- Youth Vikings Denmark [Denmark]
- Team Tilt [Switzerland]
- SVB Team Germany [Germany]
Pool B
- Team BDA [Bermuda]
- NZL Sailing Team [New Zealand]
- Land Rover BAR Academy [Great Britain]
- Spanish Impulse Team [Spain]
- Next Generation USA [USA]
- Candidate Sailing Team [Austria]
Hagara explained the regatta format for 2017 saying,“There are six sailors per team, and six teams per pool.
“In the Qualifiers this June, the top four teams from each pool will advance, and we’ll have a total of eight boats at the starting line in the Finals, which is a lot.
“They’ll sail the same racecourse used by the America’s Cup teams, so it’s going to be a big challenge and a great opportunity to learn and prove themselves.”
In 2017, for the first time the Red Bull Youth America’s Cup will use foiling catamarans – high-speed AC45F boats that rise above the water on foils to fly at speeds over 35 knots [65km/h]. They’re the same boats raced by the professional sailors in the America’s Cup.
Laura Cutler, Manager, TeamBDA, says: “The team is really excited about the draw. It’s always good to know who you are up against. These are some of the best youth sailors in the world so there’s no such thing as an easy group.
“As the home team we’re looking forward to seeing Bermudians out on the Great Sound cheering us on. The boats we’ll be racing are incredible machines so this is going to be a very exciting regatta.”
Next up for the Red Bull Youth America’s Cup teams: official training periods sailing with the only eight AC45F catamarans on the planet. Training for Group A will take place in Bermuda on May 28-June 3, followed by training for Group B on June 4-10.
Then the action accelerates in conjunction with the America’s Cup in Bermuda, with Red Bull Youth America’s Cup Pool A and B Qualifiers scheduled for June 12-16, 2017, followed by the Finals on June 20-21.