Half a dozen have now become two: Team America Racing, which will represent the USA at the first Red Bull Youth America's Cup for 19 to 24-year-old sailors in September 2013, and American Youth Sailing Force, which will represent the colours of the host city San Francisco. Particularly useful: both are automatically qualified for the final of the selection regatta.
The applicants were judged by the two coaches, Darren Bundock and Philipe Presti, who also had the role of sailing instructors on board, on their boat handling skills, trim and communication with each other. The other teams, including the group from Sailing Team Germany and the Norddeutscher Regatta-Verein, will be officially announced soon and then invited to the qualifying regatta in San Francisco from 9 to 24 February.
The competition will be held on AC45 catamarans which, unlike the America's Cup World Series, will be crewed by six rather than five sailors. Most of the US sailors considered for selection have little to no previous cat experience, but are members of a college sailing team and/or US Sailing's development team. Over the next few months, they will attend further training courses at Team Oracle USA to prepare them for their tasks. "It's a great honour," said Charlie Buckingham, a Laser sailor who skippers Team America. "Apparently we did well in the assessment and they think we're capable of doing well in the Youth America's Cup."
Driving lesson on the AC45
And so it goes on:
Announcement of the other qualifiers at the beginning of December.
Selection regatta in San Francisco from 9 to 24 February 2013 (the USA and San Francisco teams have already qualified for the final).
Red Bull Youth America's Cup from 1 to 4 September 2013
The Communication
