Land Rover BAR Academy crowned Red Bull Youth America’s Cup Champions
Image: Harry KH / Land Rover BAR
Britain’s youth America’s Cup sailors from the Land Rover BAR Academy have been crowned the 2017 Red Bull Youth America’s Cup Champions in Bermuda after a dramatic final.
Having headed into the climactic day of the Red Bull Youth America’s Cup in fifth place overall, defending champions NZL Sailing Team mounted a monumental comeback. The Kiwis looked to have successfully retained their crown after claiming a perfect set of race results on the day with three consecutive victories, while the leaders after day one of the Finals, Land Rover BAR Academy, had endured a difficult afternoon and were still on the course with the rest of the field, languishing in fifth place.
However, with the New Zealanders set to celebrate on board their boat, incredible late drama conspired against the reigning champions. Land Rover BAR Academy clawed their way up to second on the final leg to land the trophy. Just two points behind were New Zealand with Switzerland taking the final podium position.
Image: Harry KH / Land Rover BAR
Skipper, Rob Bunce, said: “The strategy was to do the same as yesterday and get off the start line clear. If we got three results in the top four we knew we could come away with a good result but unfortunately, we had an OCS and a penalty in the first start.
“I cannot put into words how much effort everyone put in on the race course. The amount of places we managed to gain in all the races is amazing. In the last race of the day, we knew to finish first overall we could only have one boat in between us and New Zealand and most of the way round there were two or three boats in between. We saw at that last gate, Artemis Youth Racing (Sweden) and SVB Team Germany (Germany) had a battle on and one of them got hooked on the mark and the other suffered a penalty and that was our opportunity to get in front of Team Tilt (SUI) and hold out Spanish Impulse (ESP) to have the reach of our lives! To win here in Bermuda is amazing.”
Image: Harry KH / Land Rover BAR
Amongst the winning team were strategist Annabel Vose, the only female sailor in the fleet, and Neil Hunter the only sailor to compete in both the America’s Cup and the Red Bull Youth America’s Cup in Bermuda. Land Rover BAR launched the Land Rover BAR Academy in January 2016, to support talented young British sailors, and create a structured pathway into the America’s Cup.
Land Rover BAR Team Principal and Skipper, Ben Ainslie said: “We could not be prouder of the Land Rover BAR Academy winning the Red Bull Youth America’s Cup. All their hard work, commitment and dedication over the past 18 months has really come together on the water here in Bermuda.”
With little time to celebrate the young Land Rover BAR Academy are now heading to Maderia to compete in the Extreme Sailing Series Act 3 from 29 – 2 July.
The post Land Rover BAR Academy crowned Red Bull Youth America’s Cup Champions appeared first on All At Sea.
