Club Nàutic Sa Ràpita sailor Neus Ballester closer to Sail Team BCN

Sail Team BCN, the team that will compete in the Youth and Puig Women's America's Cup, has held a new training session at the facilities of its base in the port of Sitges between January the 24th and 29th. The team continues to advance in its preparation schedule towards its participation in the Youth and Puig Women's America's Cup, which will take place in September and October 2024.

Sail Team BCN is immersed in the selection process of sailors for both teams that has been active since last May, when the doors of the base in Sitges were opened.

This was the seventh training camp Sail Team BCN has held at the marina since the selection program began. Almost thirty sailors, including women and young sailors, have been invited to train at these concentrations according to the potential seen in them by the team leaders, among them the sailor from Club Nàutic Sa Ràpita, Neus Ballester.

The sailors who aspire to be part of Sail Team BCN combine sailing with work in the simulator and physical preparation during these working days. At the moment, the team is training on the water with a GC 32, a catamaran with foils, while waiting to have at their disposal an AC40, the sailboat with which they will compete in the Youth and Puig Women's America's Cup.

Guillermo Altadill, head of Sail Team BCN, is very satisfied with the performance of all the sailors who are participating in the selection phase. "We have ninety percent of the names chosen, and the next step will be to communicate this to the selected sailors and announce their names. We have decided that the event where we will announce the teams will be in the port of Sitges because everything has been cooked up here and we are delighted at our base. We even feel lazy to go to Barcelona, here it's all facilities. It's like when you get your grades at university, Port de Sitges is the right place for it".

Sail Team BCN is at a disadvantage compared to its rivals in that it does not have access to an AC40 at the moment, so it is in talks with other teams so that the chosen crew members can start sailing on the yacht with which they will compete in the Youth and Puig Women's America's Cup. "Until now it wasn't possible because to be able to sail an AC40 you have to invest many hours in the simulator beforehand, just like in Formula 1 or with airplane pilots. You can't get into a boat like this until you've mastered the simulator. We have the disadvantage of not having the budget to buy an AC40, so we are exploring other options," says Altadill.

Once the names of the sailors who will form part of the women's and youth teams have been defined, which will be revealed in mid-March, the selected sailors will continue to work in periodic concentrations in Sitges until Sail Team BCN moves its base of operations to Barcelona, which will be located in the Port Vell.