The America’s Cup will finally include a women’s regatta for the first time in the event's 173-year history.Ian Roman / America's Cup/Supplied
The America’s Cup is the pinnacle of sailing, and the oldest competition in international sports. It features the world’s top sailors, cutting-edge yacht technology and has long been the preserve of wealthy men. Now, for the first time in its 173-year history, the event will finally include a women’s regatta.
Twelve countries will compete for the first Women’s America’s Cup trophy, and Canada is among them. It’s set to go in Barcelona from Oct. 5 to 13, where the sailing world is also gathered for the America’s Cup.
While it has always been a gender-neutral event, the America’s Cup has predominantly had male sailors, with just a small number of females. This will be its first stand-alone event for women.
After months of training with a video-game-like simulator, a crew of Canadian women has transitioned to the water, ready to race a high-speed foiling monohull in a milestone event that aims to propel more women into roles at the top of the sport.
“It’s about time women were on this stage competing,” said Vancouver sailor Isabella Bertold, captain of Canada’s crew. “It’s not just about the women on this boat, but it’s about growing the pathway for women in sailing as a whole.”
All teams in the Women’s America’s Cup will sail in the same model of boat provided by organizers – the high-tech AC40.
The 40-foot yacht is operated by four sailors split between two double cockpits – a helm and sail trimmer in each. It has Top Gun vibes, with the women in helmets and headsets, pushing buttons to control the sails and other functions, and flying the boat just above the water’s surface on foils, exceeding 40 knots, or around 80 kilometres an hour.
Ms. Bertold got the ball rolling on entering a team for Canada. It came with challenges: finding the right combination of female Canadian sailors suited to crew a high-speed foiling boat, and raising enough money to train them at it.
Maura Dewey, Mariah Millen, Isabella Bertold and Ali ten Hove will compete for Canada in the event.QAPTUR/Supplied
Ms. Bertold’s well-rounded background helped. The sailor is 33 with national team and SailGP experience, also a professional road cyclist and business grad with a venture-capital career.
Several big Canadian companies stepped up – Concord Green Energy, Dilawri, Royal Bank of Canada and Telus – to form Concord Pacific Racing, also sponsoring a Canadian crew for the youth America’s Cup, which just finished in Barcelona. The two teams held evaluation camps together to try out elite Canadians from many classes of sailing, to learn foil technology and to train.
“Somebody could be a really good Olympic sailor, but they’re not used to racing at that speed,” Ms. Bertold said of evaluating sailors. “It would be like asking, ‘Hey, do you want to go drive a Formula One car?’ Some would say, ‘Sign me up,’ and others would say ‘No, thanks, that’s too much of an adrenalin rush for me.’ ”
It took months of trying out many sailors to finalize Canada’s crew. Those chosen have been sailing since they were young.
Ms. Bertold will steer on the boat’s starboard side – the right – with 31-year-old Maura Dewey behind her as trimmer. Like Ms. Bertold, she’s been a national team sailor in the ILCA 6 class. Ms. Dewey, from Victoria, studied science and atmospheric physics and blends science with sailing, specializing in meteorology.
On the boat’s left, 28-year-old Ali ten Hove from Kingston is the port driver, with 26-year-old Toronto native Mariah Millen as trimmer. That duo partnered at the Tokyo Olympics three years ago and earned a silver medal at the 2023 Pan Am Games sailing in the 49er FX. Both have fathers who sailed in the Olympics.
The 40-foot yacht is operated by four sailors split between two double cockpits, with speeds exceeding 40 knots, or around 80 km/hour.Ricardo Pinto / America's Cup/Supplied
While it was no small feat for Canada to raise some $2-million for training, that wasn’t enough to buy its own AC40 training boat (that would have cost some $2-million more, plus operating expenses). Canada got aboard its race-provided AC40 on the water last weekend, days before competition begins.
The Canadians moved to Barcelona in recent months, where their training included a sophisticated AC40 simulator. The sailors sat for hours in an office in front of a large screen using the video-game-like technology with identical controls and displays used in the boat they will race. Since all the teams learn with simulators, they could compete in virtual practice regattas online.
Early on in the simulator, Ms. Millen wondered if a video-game-savvy teenager may be better at this than her. The Olympian was more accustomed to the physical work of pulling ropes to sail than pushing buttons on a battery-powered yacht.
But once in the AC40 on the water – feeling the wind and the spray, the boat lifting and accelerating, Ms. Millen confirmed that knowledge of how to make sailboats go fast was vital, and the team’s physical fitness would help handle extreme speeds and mental load.
“It became clear that you have to be a top sailor to be on one of these boats, and you see that within all the [other boats],” Ms. Millen said. “They are all stacked with Olympians and top sailors from different classes.”
Trust and communication are crucial while racing fast against other AC40s on the water, as boats take positions of power on one another and make tight turns. Especially since the women are seated on opposite sides of the boat, with a sail dividing the middle and restricting their views.
So Ms. Bertold took a page from her business career and enlisted a personality assessment specialist to unearth the strengths of each sailor, helping them make fast decisions in high-stress situations, communicate and work as a team.
“We’ve put all of that under pressure, had the communication breakdowns and worked through it,” Ms. Bertold said. “It’s been nice to see how strong of a team we are, and I credit our communication.”
The preliminary round will see the women’s teams race in two pools of six, those linked to an America’s Cup team and those who aren’t. New Zealand, Britain, the United States, Italy, Switzerland and France comprise the former. Canada, Spain, the Netherlands, Germany, Sweden and Australia are in the latter.
The two pools will do a series of fleet races, with the top three from each pool advancing for more races. Then the best two will emerge to compete in a final race to decide who wins.
Ms. Bertold hopes this lands more women in top sailing roles, on boats or in technical shoreside jobs. She wants Canada’s program to continue for any future women’s and youth America’s Cups.
“We want to make sure that there’s also like 50 women behind us that want to take our jobs,” she said. “And they get the opportunities to develop the skills to do it.”