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The British Land Rover BAR Academy team has won the Red Bull Youth America’s Cup (RBYAC) following an intense final day of competition on Bermuda’s Great Sound.
As overnight leaders, Land Rover BAR Academy finished with a total of 50 points, 2 points ahead of their nearest rivals from New Zealand and claimed victory in their inaugural RBYAC challenge. The victory came down to the wire, the team had to dig deep and show their determination by not giving up and making it back from 8th to 2nd place in the final race of the day to claim overall victory.
In preparation for the RBYAC, the Academy team competed in the Extreme Sailing Series, a global Stadium Racing sailing circuit, competing against a world-class field of senior teams in GC32 foiling catamarans. Their transition from GC32s to the AC45F boats has been exceptional particularly given the variable wind conditions they have encountered in Bermuda.
Building interest and participation in sailing across genders is very important for the team. The competing team includes the only female sailor in the competition, Annabel Vose whose role as tactician has proved crucial in their victory.
Land Rover’s commitment to Land Rover BAR into the next America’s Cup ensures not only their Title and Exclusive Innovation partnership but also further development of the Academy team. A pathway between the Academy and senior team has already been proven with Neil Hunter, now an established member of the Senior team and at 22 years of age was the youngest sailor of any America’s Cup team. The British entry is also made up of some of the country’s top sailing talent, aged between 19-24 years old and led by Skipper Rob Bunce. Furthermore, the partnership continues to lead the way in increasing the numbers of sailors across all ages and genders.
“We could not be prouder of the Land Rover BAR Academy winning the Red Bull Youth America’s Cup. All their hard work, commitment and dedication over the past 18 months has really come together on the water here in Bermuda. Today was incredibly tense, it is a strong fleet, but I have been really impressed by the team’s constant onboard communication, how they kept their cool under pressure and really delivered on the boat handling during the tricky conditions,” the skipper and Land Rover Bar Team Principal, Sir Ben Ainslie, said.
Also speaking on the feat, Land Rover Experiential Marketing Director, Mark Cameron, said: “I would like to extend my congratulations to the Land Rover BAR Academy team on their win today in Bermuda – we at Land Rover could not be more proud of the team and their achievements. The commitment and dedication shown by the Academy team to win the Red Bull Youth America’s Cup is a testament to their character’s and with our continued commitment to Land Rover BAR we look forward to supporting the next generation of sailors. We understand that supporting opportunities for talented young male and female sailors is crucial to the longevity of the team and to achieving Land Rover BAR’s ultimate goal of ‘Bringing The Cup Home’ to Britain. Our partnership with Land Rover BAR has always been against a longer term plan to develop future British sailing talent as well as directly integrating our engineering and design expertise with the senior team.”
Land Rover BAR Academy team’s next focus is immediately reverting to the 2017 Extreme Sailing Series for Act 3 in Madeira starting June 29th where they will compete with a world-class field of largely senior sailing crews. Following the team’s impressive 2nd place during April’s Act 2 in Qingdao, and the team’s success in Bermuda, hopes are high for a strong finish to the campaign.
Red Bull Youth America’s Cup Final Results:
- Land Rover BAR Academy (GBR) – 50
- NZL Sailing Team – 48
- Team Tilt (SUI) – 42
- Artemis Youth Racing (SWE) – 37
- Team France Jeune – 35
- Spanish Impulse Team – 34
- SVB Team Germany – 33
- TeamBDA (BER) – 33
Source: Jaguar Land Rover
