The mountain of Montjuïc and its eponymous ‘Castell’ that loom over the city of Barcelona helped dictate the conditions on the third day of the Puig Women’s America’s Cup, after overnight storms gave way to a westerly Atlantic airflow that bent round the iconic Barcelona landmark, creating a shifty, puffy, and difficult-to-read racecourse.
There was plenty on the line and much to play for amongst the Invited Teams, representing yacht clubs from around the world, with a four-way battle for the podium and automatic qualification for Friday’s Semi-Finals to meet the top three America’s Cup teams at stake.
To get there required real skill with the westerly breeze going from 19 knots puffs to dead calm – and even saw the abandonment and re-running of the seventh race. It was a pure sailing challenge and the world’s finest women’s sailors rose to the challenge.
Swedish Challenge powered by Artemis Technologies started the day in fourth place overall after an out-of-sorts opening four races on Sunday, despite having been tipped for success before the tournament.
Today they proved that pre-regatta time in the boat matters, scoring four race wins from four races, showing consistency, excellent racecraft and near-perfect manoeuvres across the range of conditions. Sweden moved from fourth to first in the standings after a dominant second race win and simply extended away to win at a canter.
Speaking afterwards Vilma Bobeck, starboard helm of the Swedish Challenge came ashore with a sense of relief after a stunning performance, saying: “I think we just put everything together out there today and finally got to show what we’ve been training for all summer and what we’re actually capable of doing this week. We still have a few things to go over that we can improve on further but we’re just looking forward to the semis now.”
Talking about the conditions, Bobeck reflected on what the key differences were for the Swedish team, saying: “It was really tricky out there, shifty and gusty. It was a massive range of both wind and shifts so it really kept us on our toes. Having our heads out of the boat was for sure a winning move and it suited us very well as both me and Julia (Gross) are from a small lake up in Stockholm where it’s just like this, so it felt almost like sailing at home!”
Behind the sensational Swedish, the battle for the remaining two podium places was intense. Overnight leaders JAJO Team DutchSail steadily improved through the session and confirmed their runners-up spot and place in the Semi-Finals with consistent results, leaving a battle raging behind them between Sail Team BCN and Team Andoo Australia.
Willemijn Offerman, port helm for JAJO Team DutchSail, was delighted to be in the Semi-Finals of the Puig Women’s America’s Cup, saying: “I’m so proud of the whole team not only on the boat but also on the shore, we felt so much support and it’s incredible that we made it through.
“I think we’ve shown here what our strength is, and we have strong belief. It was quite intense in the waves; the wind was so up and down and the angle of the waves made it so hard to sail. I think all of us are super happy that we have another day on the boat later this week and will just enjoy that day and we will see what the result is.”
For the Australians, though, it was the toughest of days. From the outset they appeared out of sorts with the boat and struggled to shift gears – one moment outstanding, the next off the pace. Sail Team BCN were also struggling for consistency, but the local team kept cool under pressure and scored the results when it mattered.
Going into the final race, a three-point buffer for the Spanish meant nothing was certain, especially given the proven talent onboard the Australian boat, but a match-race to the finish on the final leg ensued and Sail Team BCN sailed brilliantly to prevail and secure themselves the final podium place.
María Cantero, trimmer for Sail Team BCN was excited to have made the Semi-Final but reflected on a challenging day in Barcelona, saying: “It was a tricky day, very shifty and puffy, and it was very tight on points with all the teams who wanted to go to the Semi-Final, so I think we did a really good job.
“I’m excited for the coming days. We are looking forward to the Semi-Finals, it’s been a big challenge and our goal from the beginning. We had very little time sailing on this boat, so every day is a new learning day for us and we are just really excited for what’s to come.
“Today was about connecting the dots and going the fastest to the next mark and I think after having a lot of mistakes, the key was really to be able to quickly recover, and I that’s what I think we managed to.”
Olivia Price, skipper of Andoo Team Australia was understandably gutted to have dropped out of the top three, but remained grateful for the opportunity that the inaugural Puig Women’s America’s Cup has afforded, saying: “Obviously it’s not the result we came here for, but it is a moment to still celebrate – as much as it does hurt. It was something pretty cool to be a part of and hopefully we can continue with as both women and as Australians.
“Today was really tricky with the changes in pressure and sometimes we lost sight of where the pressure was and sometimes we lost sight of our boat efficiency and being able to marry those two up.
“It wasn’t the standard that we were looking for today, but we were here to experience a pretty awesome event and we’ve been so incredibly lucky to be Australians racing not against but with each other this time and I really hope that there’s more of that to come.”
Today’s schedule was originally for eight races across the two groupings but following damage to the Concord Pacific Racing boat after a nosedive before the second race that required outside assistance, the Race Committee has shifted this afternoon’s scheduled Group A – America’s Cup Teams – racing to Thursday October 10.
Shoreside at the Port Olímpic, home to the Puig Women’s America’s Cup teams, the atmosphere was, once again, lively and colourful. We saw some outstanding racing today, full of spills and thrills, with speeds at times above 40 knots and some impressive racecraft from the elite women sailors.
The cream is rising and the America’s Cup Teams of the Puig Women’s America’s Cup will no doubt be taking a hard look at the talent coming through from the Invited Teams group. The upcoming Semi-Finals will be tight – who joins Sweden, Netherlands and Spain is what we will find out on Thursday October 10 as the Puig Women’s America’s Cup continues to deliver, fascinate and delight.
