Neus Ballester and Albert Torres candidates for the Spanish women's and youth America's Cup team

The sailor from Club Nàutic Sa Ràpita, Neus Ballester and the sailor from the Real Club Náutico de Palma, Albert Torres are among the candidates to form part of the women's and youth Sail Team BCN representing Spain in the next America's Cup.

CaixaBank has presented a new sponsorship agreement that will link the financial institution with Sail Team BCN, the only Spanish team that will participate in the Youth & Puig Women's America's Cup. The boat will represent Spain in the two competitions: the Women's America's Cup, which will be held for the first time in the history of the event, and the Youth America's Cup, contested by sailors under 25 years of age.

Specifically, the Youth America's Cup will be held from 26 September to 2 October and the Women's America's Cup from 10 to 16 October, on the same race course as the Youth & Puig Women America's Cup.

Guillermo Altadill, renowned offshore sailor, was a key player in the choice of Barcelona as the host city for the America's Cup 2024. Once the venue was announced, Grant Dalton, CEO of the competition, offered the Catalan sailor the opportunity to create a Spanish team for the Youth & Puig Women America's Cup. From that date, Guillermo Altadill and Steward Hosford, an expert international project manager, began to design the Sail Team BCN project, a team based locally in Barcelona, specifically in the Port of Sitges.

Sail Team BCN has received approval from the America's Cup Event (ACE) and Emirates Team New Zealand to be the Spanish challenger for the event in 2024. Under the banner of the Real Club Náutico de Barcelona, Sail Team BCN is born with the aim of getting the best Youth and Women's team that can represent Spain during the competition to be held in 2024. Sail Team BCN will participate in two categories, with two different teams: an all-female team made up of a maximum of eight women and a youth team made up of a maximum of eight young sailors between 18 and 25 years old.

The selection process has been open to any Spanish athlete and has valued their sporting curriculum and their knowledge of foiling. The final selection of the youth and women's teams is expected to be announced at the end of January. In the medium and long term, Sail Team BCN aspires to build a platform of talent that will allow them to compete in all the categories of the future America's Cup.

This pre-selection includes the sailors from Club Nàutic Sa Ràpita, Neus Ballester, and from the Real Club Náutico de Palma, Albert Torres. Two sailors who have experience in sailing boats with foils, something very important as the boat with which they will compete in the America's Cup will be the AC40, a 40-foot monotype that flies thanks to its foils and can reach speeds of up to 45 knots. 

In fact, the young Neus Ballester, Nico Martín, Marcos Fernández and Jaime Framis made a simulation during the presentation of the Caixabank sponsorship, performing a pre-start and a windward/leeward leg, so that the attendees could imagine the excitement of a regatta.

José Ignacio Goirigolzarri, Chairman of CaixaBank, explained during the presentation ceremony the reasons why the bank has decided to support the only Spanish team: "The America's Cup will be the biggest sporting event held in Barcelona since the 1992 Olympic Games and for us it is a real pride to host such an important event in our city, which for weeks will make Barcelona, once again, the world capital of sport".

Tamara Echegoyen, Sail Team BCN sailor, highlighted that for the first time in the history of the America's Cup there will be a women's event in the competition programme: "The Puig Women's America's Cup is an excellent opportunity to continue opening the doors to the professional world for women sailors, who are working hard to reach the level required for events of this magnitude". At the same time, Echegoyen affirmed that "sailing in Spain is a factory of talent in all its forms and ages, proof of which are the great results achieved every year in top level international competitions. For this reason, I believe it is a unique opportunity to have a women's team and a youth team in one of the biggest competitions in our sport and to be able to work to develop their maximum potential".

Guillermo Altadill, Team Principal of Sail Team BCN, added that "since Barcelona was nominated as the host city for the 37th America's Cup, we have been working in all areas so that the women's and youth team can participate in this edition of the Youth & Puig Women's America's Cup with every guarantee of success".   

Altadill also stated that "the talent of our sailors is unquestionable and this is demonstrated by their track record, but to achieve success in a sport as technological as this one, you must have that talent and also the necessary resources so that our sailors can be fighting to win".