The Copa América gives, starting today, a change of direction to reduce the gap between men and women in professional foil sailing (hydroalas). Barcelona hosts the first women’s competition in its 173-year history from October 5 to 13 and Spain will be represented by the Sail Team BCN. Silvia Mas and Neus Ballester will be the helmsmen and María Cantero and Paula Barceló will be the trimmers of the AC40the same boat that the youth team competed with. Nicole Van der Velden, champion of the fourth season of SailGP with the Spanish team, will be the reserve sailor.
For months, and in the absence of their own boat, They trained in the simulator they had in the Port of Sitges to become familiar with the automation of a boat in which there is no rudder but steering wheels and there are no windmills or ropes but screens and buttons. Actually, Until this week the four boards on board have not been able to train. They arrive with only two full days of hours on the water – of the four planned, one had to be canceled due to lack of wind and another because there was too much – but willing to demonstrate their talent.
“We have spent many hours in the simulator but also analyzing the regattas in Vilanova, Jeddah and the Youth America’s Cup. And when we got on the boat we noticed it. The work has paid off. The AC40 is amazing, it allows you to explore the limits of the boat and, despite how fast it goes, it is very safe. For me the best thing has been seeing so many girls from different teams sailing with foils. In the professional circuits there is usually only one girl on board, you have to adapt to already established roles and now we feel it as our project,” María Cantero explains to MARCA.
The female Sail Team BCN training in the waters of Barcelona.
“We are given the opportunity to train so that in the future women can enter the circuits in a more natural way and gain experience. Even being integrated into the big Copa América teams. We only have a few hours on the boat but as a sailor we have the resources to fight. You still wonder what it would have been like if we had been able to train on the boat,” he admits.
We have few hours on the boat but as a sailor we have resources to be able to fight
The Canarian is the one with the most experience with foils of the four.He was part of the Hong Kong team that was going to participate in the 2021 Youth America’s Cup in New Zealand but it ended up being canceled due to Covid. Cantero, who sails in the Olympic 49er class, was then living in the Asian country and did the entire campaign for the America’s Cup. “I have always liked fast boats and adrenaline. Having to react before things happen,” he says, laughing.
Share boat and apartment with Silvia Mas470 world champion in 2021, European and Olympic bronze in Tokyo. The Barcelona woman, who competes at home, leads the Sail Team BCN. Mas has combined the Copa América with the TP52 circuit this year. “I have learned a lot from data analysiswhich is key in the AC40 because in it every minute is gold. We don’t have the same hours of water as the rest of the teams but we are very strong. Realistically, we want to be in the Top 3 in our group”, he acknowledges.
The patrons of the Puig Women’s America’s Cup.
Sail Team BCN, which is sponsored by CaixaBank, is included in Group Balong with the rest of the invited teams (Australia, Holland, Sweden, Canada and Germany). In the A There are those who compete for the Hundred Guineas Jug in the Copa América: New Zealand, Great Britain, Italy, France, the United States and Switzerland. In the first phase, eight races spread over two days will be held in fleet tests. The semifinals, to which the best three enter, are on October 11 and the final on the 13th.
An opportunity to open the way
“Women have the level, another thing is that until now they have not given us the opportunity. We have to take advantage of it to demonstrate the talent that exists in Spain and may it be the first of many. I hope there will be a Spanish team among the AC75 again,” says Mas, the Spanish captain.
“Women have the level and we have to take advantage of the opportunity to demonstrate the talent that exists in Spain
“After so much time in the simulator we really wanted to notice the speed and get wet,” he admits. Neus Ballesterthe youngest of the team at 20 years old but already two-time world champion in the 420 class (2019 and 2021) and European under-21 470 champion. “I’m still not aware that we are going to make history. When time passes and people remember it, I will be able to say with pride that I was there.“adds the daughter of Olympic champion Pepote Ballester (along with Fernando León in the Tornado class in Atlanta 96) and Nuria Bover, 420 world champion in 1989. Only the Swiss Marie Mazuay (Alinghi), 19 years old, is younger than her.
Ballester, despite his young age, will serve as helmsman, like Silvia Mas. “I have a very big responsibility. “I am very proud that they trust me at such a young age and that the team has welcomed me in this way.”says. And he recognizes that the best advice has been given to him by the members of the Sail Team BCN who have participated in the Copa América Juvenil. “Tighten as hard as you can,” they have been told.
“I hope there are more women’s America’s Cups and even that There will be mixed teams in the future because they are boats that are not as physical as in the past and women can play an important role,” adds the Mallorcan.
They are ships that are not as physical as before and women can play an important role
It is also from Mallorca Paula Barcelowhich has combined 49er FX’s Olympic campaign – Olympic in Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024 – with the Copa América and fifth medical course. “Feel super lucky to be able to be on the first girls team that will compete in the Copa América. It is a great responsibility. In the end, many barriers are being broken in women’s sport and I think that this, along with other great circuits that are increasingly introducing women, are doing an impressive job, but at the same time “I feel with that responsibility to continue breaking barriers for future generations to come,” dice.
