In the full glare of the world’s media spotlight, in a race sandwiched between the opening two races of the Louis Vuitton 37th America’s Cup Match, Italy’s Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli beat Britain’s Athena Pathway to win the inaugural Puig Women’s America’s Cup after an impressive demonstration of cool, calm, and collected match-racing of the highest order.

This was a titanic tussle between the two outstanding competitors to emerge from a super-competitive Qualification and Semi-Final series that signaled and signposted the very future of the America’s Cup. The Final was set to be a classic with Athena Pathway coming in with momentum whilst Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli knew that they had inherent speed if they could keep their nerve and deliver when it mattered.

A nervy start from the Italians saw them enter the box late and it was decision time for Athena Pathway on starboard whether to get aggressive or gybe away and lead. The British elected the latter and then set up for their final approach to windward – hoping for the speed advantage that they had enjoyed in previous races.

However, from the very outset, it was Giulia Conti, skipper of Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli and starboard helm, who eked out crucial meters off the line, to tack at the left boundary to gain the early control. From there she and her Italian crew – co-helm Margherita Porro, with trimmers Maria Giubilei and Giulia Fava – kept calm despite intense pressure from the British to never relinquish the lead over the next six legs.

Athena Pathway – led by Great Britain’s most decorated female Olympic sailor Hannah Mills, alongside Tash Bryant, and trimmers Saskia Clark and Hannah Diamond – were always a threat as they refused to give up and kept the deltas super tight all the way around the course. At times they closed up, but the Italians covered tenaciously and despite splitting tactics all over the course to get out of phase with their opponent, there were simply no passing lanes for Athena Pathway and no possibilities to capitalise on any leverage.

By the final upwind leg, the Italian team were sailing supremely after Conti had called for calm on the preceding downwind leg where the ride height in the increasing chop briefly got out of kilter and caused the boat to punch-through a wave. With the wind speed at a steady 11 knots, the Italian team could sail conservatively, pick their shifts and headed for home around the final gate with a 19-second lead.

Athena Pathway were anything but done and threw everything they could at the leaders down the final run to the finish line. But a slick gybe at the port layline brought Luna Rossa across the line to secure an eight-second victory and a place in the history books as the first ever winners of the Puig Women’s America’s Cup.

Cue wild scenes of celebration onboard the Italian AC40 and also back ashore as the Italian team celebrated ecstatically the fact that they had added the Puig Women’s America’s Cup to the UniCredit Youth America’s Cup won earlier by the Luna Rossa Youth Team.

To celebrate this landmark moment in Italian sailing the victorious Youth Team, led by skipper Marco Gradoni, jumped aboard to join the celebrations as the Juvé & Camps Cava was sprayed around with abandon.

Later, ashore, Maria Giubilei trimmer aboard Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli said she was struggling to take in the womens’ achievement. “I don’t know how to describe how this feels. I’m super super happy and proud of the team – this is just a wonderful feeling. I’m not sure we really can understand it yet. Maybe in the coming days we will understand properly that this is a really big thing that we have done and how important it is for girls everywhere. I hope this will inspire people to follow their dreams and live the life they want to lead.”

Asked if this is the first step along the way to having female sailors racing aboard AC75s in the future America’s Cups, she answered: “I hope so. I think that would be a good thing – especially because I really want to go on the Luna Rossa boat one day. I think it would be great for women at some point if there was not a race just for us but we were mixed in with all the other sailors.”

Understandably disappointed, but still smiling, Hannah Mills – Skipper of Athena Pathway – came ashore and said: “It’s just tough. We couldn’t quite get back at the Italians. They did a really great job of defending and it really came down to the wire on that last run, but we couldn’t quite get past them.

“I guess bigger-picture-wise, Ben and I set up this programe, Athena Pathway, to try inspire, particularly, young girls coming through the sport of sailing – or ones who might want to try sailing – to showcase that there is much more opportunity coming, whether it’s on the water, racing, or off the water in shoreside roles. We’ve really delivered on that in terms of what we’ve created here, so that for me is everything. I’m so proud of everyone in this team and the wider team for helping us to achieve that.”

In a stunning win – and a notable marker of both present brilliance and future intent – Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli faced down an enormous challenge from Athena Pathway to come out victorious as the very worthy winners of the inaugural Puig Women’s America’s Cup – an achievement that bodes well for the future of Italian sailing.

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After waiting all day, having initially sent the Group A teams out for a 1000 CET start, finally – just after 1630 CET – enough breeze was found to complete a single late afternoon do-or-die race to decide the Group A Qualification Series.

This was followed quickly after by an evening series of four quick-fire races between the top three crews from Groups A and B (the Invited Teams) to decide the inaugural event’s Semi-Final stage, where Britain’s Athena Pathway and Italy’s Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli Women’s Team finished on top, tied on 27 points.

These two crews move on to compete head-to-head in the Puig Women’s America’s Cup Match Race Final, which has been scheduled for tomorrow – Saturday October 12 – in between the opening two races of the Louis Vuitton 37th America’s Cup Match.

In the marginal conditions that prevailed for the Group A race, success was dependent on staying airborne, whilst the math around making the podium was something that third placed Alinghi Red Bull Racing and fourth placed Emirates Team New Zealand were keenly aware of.

The Swiss crew made a glamor dream start to round the top gate in the lead ahead of Athena Pathway before going gybe-for-gybe with the British team all the way down the first run – all the time also being chased hard by the Kiwis. Then came drama. Athena Pathway rounded the leeward gate in first place, but just behind Alinghi Red Bull Racing was struggling, as they dropped off their foils on an attempted tack around and opened the door for Emirates Team New Zealand to steal into second.

Agonizingly for the Swiss, they stayed in displacement long enough for both NYYC American Magic and Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli to overtake and by the time they recovered, it was too much to come back from and Emirates Team New Zealand had snatched the final qualifying podium position that secured their Semi-Final spot.

The evening clouds were now coming in fast but with the wind filling in to the most it had been all day the Race Committee were set on running four Semi-Final races. They got the first away at 1730 CET with the Group B qualifiers, Swedish Challenge powered by Artemis Technologies, JAJO DutchSail and Sail Team BCN, joining Athena Pathway, Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli and Emirates Team New Zealand.

What unfolded over the next hour and a half was some of the tightest AC40 racing ever seen. From the outset two teams showed excellent consistency and pace, with Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli and Athena Pathway always looking strong across all four races. That said, the pair did not have it completely all their own way and race wins in the first and fourth races by Sail Team BCN delighted the home fans and kept the Italians and British on their toes.

In the second race, Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli squeezed inside Athena Pathway at a crowded top gate to snatch the lead and then never looked back, sailing off to a commanding victory with the British finishing as comfortable runners-up.

Consistency was starting to pay off and in the third race, Athena Pathway started uncontested at the starboard end of the line and sailed away to a dominant race win. Crucially it was Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli who secured second place and these two could only now be challenged on points going into the final race by third-placed Sail Team BCN.

And what a final race it was. Four boats including Athena Pathway and Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli were over at the start, enabling Sail Team BCN and Emirates Team New Zealand to lead up a first windward leg as the wind began to drop as sunset approached. Luna Rossa, after swiftly expunging their OCS penalty, headed far right on the course and came out ahead, whilst Athena Pathway sailed hard to close the gap on the leaders and got up to third at the windward gate.

By the end of the first run, Luna Rossa were still leading with Sail Team BCN pushing them hard. With the wind fading further the Italians came off their foils on the second beat and the Spanish went on to record a brilliant second win of the day. Athena Pathway held their nerve to cross the line in third to secure their Match Race Final spot.

Giulia Conti, Skipper of Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli came ashore shattered but delighted saying: “I’m exhausted but extremely happy. It’s a joy that I’ve never felt before because I can share it with the people that are not just teammates, but also very good friends and who I love deeply and this makes it way beyond my expectations.

“It was hard to stay focused the whole day because we were on the water in the morning from 0915 but we were able to really keep it together, also our coach a really good job in keeping us focused the whole time and we just knew we needed to keep things simple and to keep the boat fast and that’s what we did.”

Looking ahead to tomorrow’s Match Race Final against Athena Pathway, Conti added: “I’m looking forward to the final. I can’t wait to sail against Athena Pathway. I think they did a great job also, and with the project that Hannah Mills has developed I think they really deserve to be in the final. I’ve been racing against Hannah for a very long time in dinghies so it’s great to be sharing this final with her.”

Tash Bryant, port helmswoman on Athena Pathway stepped ashore pleased but very much focused on completing the job saying: “I think we’re pretty excited and obviously it’s a relief to be following in the footsteps of the INEOS Britannia team and we can’t wait to give it our best shot tomorrow. Obviously, we’re super competitive on board so we really want to win the race – with the first one being really special – and we can’t wait to get on the start line.”

Talking about today’s racing and the team’s never-say-die approach, Bryant added: “We’ve been working really hard trying to stay collected, no matter what happens in the racing, especially today when it was going to be unpredictable and we weren’t 100 percent sure what the wind was going to do. We just had to take each race with a clean slate and go out there and just do our best in the moment.

“We’ve been working hard on the resets. If we have a little touchdown or something happens that we didn’t predict we’ve been working hard as a team to just reset as best we can and lock in on the boat in real time. I think today we went out and did ourselves proud because we had some amazing comebacks and came out of the situations that we really didn’t want to be in.”

So, it’s Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli against Athena Pathway in the Puig Women’s America’s Cup Final where these two outstanding teams are sure to serve up a match-racing masterclass with absolutely nothing to separate them on the water.

It’s one of the highlights of this magnificent summer of sailing in Barcelona and as the sun sets on an epic penultimate day of the Puig Women’s America’s Cup this inaugural competition looks set for a stunning climax tomorrow.

Whichever of these two top class teams ultimately lifts the trophy, crafted by the Spanish architect and designer Patricia Urquiola, they will certainly have earned the honor of becoming the first ever winners of the Puig Women’s America’s Cup.

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With the AC75s of Emirates Team New Zealand and INEOS Britannia tucked in their sheds getting final nips and tucks ahead of this weekend’s start to the Louis Vuitton 37th America’s Cup all was quiet along the waterfront. And it would have been easy to miss the simmering excitement at Barcelona’s Port Olimpic if were not for the boisterous arrivals of the chase boats of Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli and American Magic, packed full of team members to spur the women of the Puig Women’s America’s Cup as they wait to dock out for one final day of qualification races.

Berthed in order of the rankings, at one end of the quay are the sailors, friends and families of INEOS Britannia’s Athena Pathway sailors in their pole-position parking spot. Next to them, the sailors of Alinghi Red Bull Racing team, then Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli, Emirates Team New Zealand and Orient Express Racing Team. At pit row’s end is the AC40 of the New York YC’s American Magic.

Helena Scutt, a designer with New York YC challenge, darts past with a camera and a roll of tape, which she stows on the chase boat. She’s an alternate, and today will be watching and analyzing as the American women sail four races to dig themselves out of the basement and into the top three of the Group A fleet.

Group A are teams associated with the Cup teams and Group B are the “invited” teams. They’ve already completed their qualifying races for the Semi Final, with Swedish Challenge Women’s Team Powered by Artemis, Jajo Team Dutchsail, and the locals of SailTeam BCN making the cut after a few spectacularly breezy races.

Scutt’s adivce for the team today is simple: “Don’t worry too much about the points, if we sail the boat well it will show,” she says. “It’s about mastering our own boat before worrying about what other people are doing.”

Success will come, she assures me. It will be a matter of “heads out of the boat,” she says. “Keeping it simple and looking for pressure. You can’t worry about the shifts. It’s just about staying in the breeze and on the foils.”

While the team could have warmed up with a few laps on the simulator, today, Scutt says, starboard helmswoman Erika Reineke eschewed the additional screen time. “Erika didn’t want to sim this morning because she wanted to be head-out-of-the-boat,” Scutt says, “she just wanted to not get too locked in on the screen.”

When it comes to AC40 racing, there’s plenty the simulator can’t do and that includes acclimating one’s cranial settings to recent updates to the AC40’s autopilot software. Emirates Team New Zealand writes all the autopilot software, Scutt says, while the helms are adjusting the boat’s trim, its pitch, the depth of the foils and their cant angle. “Essentially, you input what you want and the autopilot achieves that,” Scutt says. The autopilot update came about a month ago, toward the end of their training period, so all the teams are still adapting to it.

“In order to keep the rudder immersed a certain amount to prevent losing it, if it detects that the rudder is—it used to be less than 300mm of immersion—it kicks the rudder and sinks the stern so you have more of a bow-up trim. If you have a combination of too much ride height and leeward heel it, the geometry changes and [the autopilot] kicks the rudder. They changed it to 500mm of immersion so the kicks are happening more often. Now you’re bow-up and it forces a reset, so you have to ease sails and get settled again.”

As Scutt explains the intricacies of the autopilot software, the chase boats arrive into the marina with a cacophony of horns and music, an impromptu postponement harbor parade of sorts. Onboard American Magic’s chase, rap music is booming. The Italians follow, waving the red-white-and green, which stirs the Italian camp into a flag-waving volley.

The American Magic sailors dash out to the bow of the AC40 to reciprocate the celebration. Port helmswoman Francesca Clapcich sprints out to the bow and dances on the foredeck to Shania Twain’s “Man! I Feel Like a Woman!” ba-bop-ba-da-bop…let’s go girls…” and then to Lenny Kravitz’s “American Woman,” appropriate tunes, not just for the Magic sailors, but for the two dozen females whose skills, determination and patience have earned them a spotlight on sailing’s biggest stage.

While this gathering feels more like a side-stage gig to the Cup itself, the excitement is as palpable as it should be. This is historic stuff in a sport that’s long been skewed male, and as they peel off the dock and turn to the racecourse one at a time, each and everyone one of them knows it. Smiles and hand hearts say it all.  

 “It’s really cool, and hopefully they [America’s Cup organizers] keep it rolling next time,” says American Magic coach Charlie Ogletree. “I can’t see them going backward.”

We’re interrupted by the arrival of legendary hardware maven and sailing Hall of Famer Peter Harken who’s out wandering the scene. He agrees it’s very cool and he’s been enjoying watching it from the Barcelona beachside condo where he’s been posted up for a while.

Forty minutes or so later, these six Group A teams are on the America’s Cup racecourse, foiling into lumpy swells in winds just barely strong enough to get and keep the AC40s on their skinny foils. These boats are difficult enough to handle in marginal winds, but the big swells make every hard turn of the steering wheels a 50-50 proposition.

The women of American Magic are quick to follow the day’s plan: have a good start, get the first shift and go from there. It’s basic stuff, but to get out of the basement and make the Semi Final cut, requires at least one race win and a couple of top finishes. Beyond that, all they can do is let the fleet sort itself out.

With a well-timed approach, Reineke, the starboard helmswoman and Fort Lauderdale’s ILCA 6 Olympian, is cracking the line, on time and with plenty of pace. It’s a great start in the middle of the line. The women of Emirates Team New Zealand are a touch late to the line, but have a better speed build and are immediately advanced on the Americans, positioned to leeward.

Approaching the left boundary, Reineke and her starboard trimmer, Olympic Mixed 470 sailor Louisa Nordstrom, drop the foil and turn the steering wheel, and then pass the responsibility to the port-side pair of Clapcich and Sara Stone. With their foiling tack complete, all looks perfect as they accelerate out of the tack and straight into the waves on port, flying up the course and momentarily into second place. 

“Our priority was the start,” Clapcich says when we meet outside the Media Mixed Zone after racing, “because we’ve been missing quite a lot, and I definitely can take that on me as I’m on port and responsible for getting all the pre-starts set up for the last tack. So, I didn’t deliver the first day of racing, and that was really high in my priority, to get back into our good pattern, getting out of the line fast.”

The New Zealanders, however, have a jump on the fleet, as do the Brits. The Kiwis are first through the windward gate and streak down the run with what could be—and should be—a runaway win. 

But a failed layline jibe at the bottom corner of the course has the Kiwis bobbing. The race is wide open.

INEOS’s Athena Pathway says, thank you very much as they temporarily snatch on final approach to the leeward gate. But in a blink the Brits are off the foils too and doing the displacement foredeck dance. Now streaking down the middle of the course with a straight shot and through the gate first is Alinghi Red Bull Racing’s squad.

Meanwhile, a few teams at the back of the fleet, including American Magic, are linking jibes and steaming down the racecourse too. American Magic sails past the Kiwis to round third through the gate, a position they will hold to the finish of a race that is eventually shortened to three legs. With a third, American Magic finally pockets valuable points, but they remain at the bottom of the Group A standings. Alinghi Red Bull Racing’s win makes it mathematically more difficult for the Americans.

“We never gave up,” Clapchic says. “Even before the start, we were really focused on it being us and the boat. We knew that it was a really open race and anybody could win so we stayed really focused on our own boat and tried to make smart decisions on maneuvers. It’s a bummer for us that Alinghi won, but we cannot control what other boats do.”

With this fifth qualifying race in the books, there’s a pause for the next but what wind there is fading fast. And then comes the wait. And more waiting until the race committee calls it quits for the day. The Swiss are content with a win.

“Today was one of the best days of my life,” Alinghi Red Bull Racing’s port helmswoman Alexandra Stalder says after racing. “Winning a race in the Cup is something special, so I’m super happy. But we’re not yet confirmed for the next round, so we have to fight for these last points. Tonight is an important night—we have to sleep well and be ready for tomorrow.”

There are only three remaining races to determine the final pecking order, and tomorrow morning at Port Olimpic will, no doubt, have a familiar feel to it. With a good night’s sleep and another raucous repeat send off from Port Olimpic the fleet will be straight into a race-packed day on Friday October 11 with races for both A and B groups. Should the wind cooperate, of course.

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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 on Tuesday, October 8, 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 near-perfect maneuvers 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.”

The day’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 shifted the afternoon’s scheduled Group A – America’s Cup Teams – to Thursday October 10.

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.

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