Hannah Mills: Female sailors are ready to compete in men’s America’s Cup

Hannah Mills says she believes there is a “good chance that women will feature in America’s Cup sailing teams in the next Cup cycle”.

Speaking before the start of the inaugural Women’s America’s Cup in Barcelona on Saturday, Mills, who is skipper and co-helm of the British challenger, said the experience that dozens of female sailors have banked training and racing AC40s – smaller versions of the 75-foot Cup boats – should be sufficient to see the best of them progress to the senior squads.

“I think it’s enough,” she said when asked whether they have had enough time to impress. “Particularly, I guess, for the Cup teams whose youth and women have actually had a good amount of time in the AC40, for some of them to go: ‘Actually, wow, you know what, they could offer us something. So let’s bring them in and see where they can get to.’

“As for whether they could then get on the boat, I think it’s hard to say what your learning curve would be if you get to go on that journey. It could be vertical, in which case, by the time the next Cup comes around, you’re going to be in a great spot. I think there’s a good chance we’ll see women in the Cup teams. Whether they race or not, I think will be purely down to, on the day, who’s doing the best job in whichever role it is.”

Mills not only skippers the British challenger, the double Olympic champion heads up the Athena Pathway Programme, one of the group of entities within Ben Ainslie’s Athena Sports Group, which runs its youth and women’s America’s Cup teams.

Mills’ British squad has been based in Barcelona since April and sailing an AC40 since May.

The youth team finished third in last month’s youth regatta, narrowly missing out on a place in the final match race against winners Luna Rossa, but hopes are high that Mills can lead her crew to success on the waters of Barcelona.

With an enviable budget aided by support from backers Cobham Ultra, and a sailing team she has hand-picked and which features the likes of Ellie Aldridge, the newly-crowned Olympic kite foiling champion, and Saskia Clark, Mills’ old 470 crew, Britain’s challenge should be one of the best prepared.

Mills, though, said that regardless of how her team fared, the advent of a women-only regatta offering female sailors opportunities on high-performance foiling boats could only be helpful in terms of propelling women towards the Cup itself.

At least four of the eight spots aboard an AC75 – the helms and trimmers, which are not power-based roles – could in theory be filled by women.

‘The potential for some to progress into a Cup team is finally there’

The AC40 uses the same system as the AC75, with two helms and two trimmers. The only difference is the AC40s are fully powered by batteries, whereas the larger boats are propelled by batteries and cyclor power.

“It’s so important this regatta,” Mills continued. “Because what it’s done is give 48, if not more, women an opportunity to massively upskill in this type of sailing, and we’ve never had that before. And so we’ll leave this event with 48 women that are very good at sailing these types of boats. And so the potential for some to maybe progress into a Cup team is finally there. I just don’t see how that would have happened without this being here.”

The women’s America’s Cup will feature 12 teams in total, competing in two pools. Six from the established Cup teams, and six more from Germany, Spain, the Netherlands, Canada, Sweden and Australia. Mills’ team, who have been sharing a base in Badalona with Artemis and American Magic, would expect to progress to the semi-finals at least. After a rigorous selection process, Mills will be sharing the helm with Natasha Bryant, an Australian with SailGP experience, while Clark and Hannah Diamond will be the trimmers. Mills tipped Luna Rossa as their biggest threat.

“The Italians are definitely ones to watch. Their youth team were super quick, with Marco Gradoni a breakout star. And watching their women sail as well, they’ve definitely set up very well.”

Ainslie, who considered Mills for the helm of the British SailGP boat when he stepped down last winter, and who could in theory consider her for the role again with Giles Scott transferring to Canada, backed Mills to impress in the regatta which runs from Oct 5-12.

“Definitely,” he said. “There is a certain amount of pressure on her as one of the better prepared teams. But she’s experienced. She is a big-game player.”

Asked whether women could feature in his Cup team in the next cycle, Ainslie added: “It’s too early to say. What I would say is we would definitely look at all the women coming out of the youth and women’s cups. I’ve been really impressed by the standard of sailing. We would certainly be looking at those squads when we come to fill roles.”

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