Applications open for ETNZ Women and Youth AC Teams

Emirates Team New Zealand are putting out a wide call for the country’s best Women and Youth sailors to come forward to apply to represent Emirates Team New Zealand, the RNZYS and New Zealand’s Women and Youth America’s Cup teams via an initial application which opens today - May 11th.

The Women's and Youth America’s Cup Events will be raced in the one design AC40 class in the weeks leading up to and during the America’s Cup in 2024. There will be 12 teams from 12 nations competing in each event.

The AC40 is sailed by 4 people, a driver and a trimmer on each side. The boat requires 4 skilled sailors who have the ability to work together and communicate clearly in a racing environment. Drivers need to be able to steer accurately and make clear tactical decisions under pressure. Trimmers need to have a good feel for balance, speed and how the boat is moving while being quick and accurate when changing modes.

All applications received will initially be assessed by Emirates Team New Zealand’s Performance Engineer Elise Beavis and Sailor Josh Junior, who will select the most promising applicants based on sailing experience, ability, leadership, team work as well as the applicants individual motivations.

The respective Emirates Team New Zealand Women’s and Youth prospects will quickly be refined down to 8 people in each team by the seven person Selection Panel. For the next stage of the selection process later in the year, the shortlisted sailors will spend a week at Emirates Team New Zealand being assessed on a number of levels including AC40 simulator sailing, team participation and attitude. Upon completion of that, the final teams of 5 sailors each will be selected by the Selection Panel in December of this year.

Selection Panel
Josh Junior – Emirates Team New Zealand Sailor & Program Lead
Elise Beavis - Emirates Team New Zealand Performance and simulator
Kevin Shoebridge - Emirates Team New Zealand COO
Gillian Williams - RNZYS Vice Commodore
Suzanne McFadden - Award winning Sports Journalist and Founder of LockerRoom dedicated to women’s sport journalism
Polly Powrie - Olympic 470 Gold & Silver Medallist
Ray Davies - Emirates Team New Zealand Coach
The team are keen to cast the net wide across New Zealand to capture the best talent that will create the strongest team as Elise Beavis, Yachting New Zealand’s 2022 Female Sailor of the Year explains,

“For the women’s team, we are lucky enough to have a strong pool of very talented female sailors in New Zealand, so we are excited to see what applications come in.”

“We are open to women of all ages that want to apply. Our objective is to create a pathway for the best female sailors into the America’s Cup and to create the strongest ‘team’ in every sense of the word. And through their performance and presence at the Women’s America’s Cup, inspire future generations of female sailors into professional sailing and to create wider industry opportunities also. That is the fundamental objective of this process”

Josh Junior who is leading the selection process has developed a clearly defined strategy for selecting the best of New Zealand’s talent.

“We want to develop high performing teams that can win and represent Emirates Team New Zealand with pride, passion, and professionalism on and off the water, traits the team always illustrates.”

The Youth America’s Cup team is to be made up of the most promising youth sailors who are between the age of 18 and 25 years old.

“For the Youth team we aim to provide the best New Zealand youth sailors with an America’s Cup and Emirates Team New Zealand experience that will give them the opportunity to become the next generation of world beating professional sailors and continue the success of New Zealand Youth America’s Cup teams.” Explained Junior referring to the 1st and 2nd place finishes in the 2013 and 2017 Youth America’s Cup’s respectively.

Another of the selection panel members, Emirates Team New Zealand COO Kevin Shoebridge has been an integral part of Emirates Team New Zealand’s successful evolution.

“One of the strengths of Emirates Team New Zealand over its 30 year history has always been to continue to grow the team by integrating new talent across the board. So this selection process is a critical part of the teams future success on the water.” Explained Shoebridge

“So this is a really exciting and vitally important selection process to go through when thinking of the next generation of Emirates Team New Zealand.”