Sail Team BCN has confirmed today its qualification for the semi-finals of the Women’s America’s Cup after finishing in third place in Group B of the qualification, which includes the six teams that are not linked to any major America’s Cup challenge.
Neus Ballester, who at twenty years old is the youngest skipper in the fleet, could not hide her enormous satisfaction at the success achieved. “We had the objective of reaching the semi-finals and having achieved it we feel very relaxed, because now what remains is to enjoy. We are very happy and now that you have had enough fun, Friday is already a gift.”
Trimmer María Cantero was also very happy about the qualification. “We are very happy because it was a very complicated day and we were able to overcome it. We had some of the most complicated conditions that you can have as a sailor with a very changeable onshore wind. You could go from 7 to 15 knots at once and you had to keep your head out all the time to be able to catch the pressures. Seeing the progress we have made, I think we can keep pushing and not stop dreaming, but with our heads on the ground we are happy to reach the semi-finals because it means more days of training.”
Sail Team BCN has once again shown enormous consistency to win the particular duel that it has had with Australia throughout the day to secure its place in the semi-finals. The Swedish team, which is the only one that has owned a sailboat to train on, and the Dutch team will accompany Sail Team BCN in the four semi-final races, which will be held next Friday, October 11.
The other three rivals who will contest the semi-finals will come from Group A, in which the teams linked to the challenges of the absolute America’s Cup compete. Group A was also scheduled to sail today, but the breakdown of the sailboat shared by Canada and Great Britain has forced them to postpone their races until Thursday, when we will know the names of the three qualifiers.
Women America’s Cup Semifinal Standings:
1.Swedish Challenge (SUE), 61
2.Jajo (HOL), 51
3.Sail Team BCN (ESP), 44
4.Andoo (AUS), 39
5.Concord Pacific (CAN), 13
6..Team Germany (ALE), 10
