Taking positive steps for women

Improving participation for women at the highest end of the sport has required regulation.

The Ocean Race 2017-18 (formerly Volvo Ocean Race) introduced a rule incentivizing mixed crews to improve gender diversity, with the 2023 edition requiring all teams to include at least one woman in the crew. The SailGP league did the same mid-way through Season 2 in October 2021.

When Sailing at the Paris 2024 Olympics had equal participation and medal events for men and women, it was by design. The total athlete quota for sailing of 330 athletes was evenly divided, and events and equipment were selected to serve both genders.

It was during the 2024 America’s Cup when a women’s event in the AC40 was introduced, which will continue in 2027, but the 38th Match also mandated that at least one crew-member of the AC75 must be a woman.

While women would prefer their involvement be based solely on ability, rather than requirement, that opportunity was not coming too easily. Now it is.

As America’s Cup teams work toward 2027, competition is fierce for not only a space on the AC75 but also for the Women’s America’s Cup that will be scheduled in the middle of the main event between races in the Match for the Louis Vuitton 38th America’s Cup.

Looking at the two teams that contested the inaugural Women’s America’s Cup in Barcelona in 2024, both Luna Rossa (ITA) and Athena Pathway (GBR) have maintained a strong roster of women in their teams.

Margherita Porro, the winning co-helm for Luna Rossa, is very much the stand-out name but is being pushed hard by the likes of Maria Giubilei, Maria Marchesini and Alice Linussi, all of whom have deep experience onboard the AC40 and in the simulator training.

The British women’s scheme comes under the Athena Pathway program whose CEO Hannah Mills contested the Women’s America’s Cup in Barcelona and is the most decorated British female sailing Olympian of all time. Joining Hannah is Ellie Aldridge, Formula Kite gold medalist from Paris 2024, and Olympic silver medalist Anna Burnett in the foiling Nacra 17 class and 2024 Women’s Moth World Champion Hattie Rogers.

Elsewhere, Emirates Team New Zealand has Olympic gold and silver medalist Jo Aleh and Olympic bronze medalist Erica Dawson, the Kiwi co-helms in 2024. Also, in the fold is Aleh’s Olympic crew Polly Powrie along with hugely experienced Liv Mackay and emerging talent Serena Woodall, Stella Bilger, and Helena Sanderson.

For both K-Challenge (FRA) and Tudor Team Alinghi (SUI), it is early days in their campaigning and team formation so the view is less clear.

The French program has a long association with Manon Audinet and in Barcelona in 2024 featured the likes of match racing world champion Pauline Courtois, alongside Amélie Riou, Aloïse Retornaz, and Audrey Ogereau.

There is an abundance of talented Swiss sailors to select from and it would be no surprise if the likes of Nathalie Brugger, Marie Mazuay, Laurane Mettraux, Maja Siegenthaler, Alexandra Stalder, and Anja von Allmen, who all competed in Barcelona 2024, are again in the spotlight.

More will be evident at the first preliminary regatta in the AC40 on May 21-24 as three teams featuring mixed Women and Youth squads will be racing against the primary teams.

Details: https://www.americascup.com/

Defender New Zealand and Challenger of Record from Great Britain confirmed the Protocol for the 38th America’s Cup on August 12, 2025. The close of the initial entry period was October 31, 2025, with late entries considered up to March 31, 2026. If no USA team participates in the 38th America’s Cup, it will be the first time in the event’s 175-year history.

Current entrants:
• Emirates Team New Zealand (NZL) – Defender
• Athena Racing (GBR) – Challenger of Record
• Luna Rossa (ITA) – Challenger
• Tudor Team Alinghi (SUI) – Challenger
• K-Challenge (FRA) – Challenger

After the 2024 event, Barcelona, Spain declined hosting another edition, with the venue moved to Naples, Italy. Challenger racing begins in the spring before the 38th Match on July 10-18, 2027.

Preliminary Regattas:*
May 21-24 – Cagliari, Sardinia

* More to be announced.

Source: America’s Cup, Scuttlebutt