- British team face 11 of the most talented youth crews from across the world
- Challenger aiming to win the Red Bull Youth America’s Cup at the first time of asking
Monday June 12th 2017, Bermuda: Land Rover BAR Academy is set to start their inaugural challenge for the Red Bull Youth America’s Cup (RBYAC) as the campaign to find the World’s most talented youth crew gets underway in Bermuda’s Great Sound on Monday 12th June.
The seven sailors aged between 19‑24 have under gone 2 years of hard physical preparation and will step out onto the same course used for the America’s Cup racing to compete against 11 other world class crews.
Neil Hunter whom after just ten months with the Land Rover BAR Academy was promoted to and competed with the senior sailing team for the 35th America’s Cup has returned to the team alongside Annabel Vose who will be one of only two women competing in the competition.
The goal of the academy is to create a career pathway for British sailors into the America’s Cup, and build a British team to win the RBYAC. The Land Rover BAR Academy have already competed in the 2016 Extreme Sailing Series™, coming fifth in the professional stadium racing series, supported and mentored by the Land Rover BAR Senior Sailing team.
We’re looking forward to getting on the start line, it’s going to be really exciting racing. At the moment we are expecting the conditions to be a mixture of light and strong winds. We enjoy the breeze more than the light winds, but the conditions in Bermuda change so quickly, anything could happen.
The Red Bull Youth America’s Cup differs to the Extreme Sailing Series in that the course will be bigger, the boats are bigger and faster and a bit harder to sail I think there will be more of a boat handling focus and that’s an area that we pride ourselves on. It’s also going to be important to get off the start line well, just like the ESS.
Rob Bunce
Land Rover BAR Academy Skipper
The Land Rover BAR Academy is creating a clear pathway for talented young sailors to fulfil their potential and we are proud to be a part of this journey. Seeing Neil sailing with the senior team over the last few weeks is proof the programme is working.
Mark Cameron
Land Rover Experiential Marketing Director
The Land Rover BAR Academy already compete in the Extreme Sailing Series™ where they recently placed 2nd in the Act 2 of the 2017 Extreme Sailing Series™ in Qingdao, China; a perfect spring‑board for their challenge for the RBYAC.