Athena Pathway Hits the Water on Day 1 of UniCredit Youth America's Cup
by Athena Pathway 17 Sep 22:16 BST
UniCredit Youth America's Cup, Race Day 1 - Group A - 17th September 2024 © Ian Roman / America's Cup
The UniCredit Youth America's Cup kicked off its third edition today in Barcelona, but light winds caused delays before the fleet took to the race course in tricky conditions.
Athena Pathway, the British youth team supported by Cobham-Ultra, faced a slow start to the first day of the UniCredit Youth America's Cup as dock-off was postponed due to light winds. In the meantime, the team of five GBR sailors stayed productive by reviewing and analysing video from previous practice days with their head coach, Chris Draper.
"It's a tough day one, with not reaching the accepted wind limit for racing for the majority of the day," said Athena Pathway Head Coach Chris Draper. "Once the breeze filled in, it was all on, and we were dealt some tricky conditions with the sea state. Ultimately, it was a big day one, and I'm proud of how the team managed today."
Although the wind came in later in the day, with the cloud clearing and temperatures of 24 degreesC, the lower wind limit resulted in delayed racing. The rules state the wind needs to reach an average of 7.5 knots over a five-minute period for racing to kick off. The race committee reassesses the conditions every 5 minutes until either the lower wind limit is reached or the racing window times out for the day.
After a lengthy delay that nearly led to the postponement of the day's racing, the first race of the UniCredit Youth America's Cup finally got under way at 17:42. Team Orient Express Racing for France suffered a technical issue and was disqualified for exceeding the boundary. Athena Pathway had a solid start, managing to stay clear of the fleet and making a clean getaway off the line.
Athena Pathway rounded the first mark in second place, positioning themselves well behind Italy, but a loose gybe on the second leg caused the boat to come off the foils in the challenging sea state. This misstep saw the team drop back to fifth position. Athena Pathway trailed Italy by 1,300 meters at the finish, sitting in fourth place and gaining 3 points.
The wind increased across the course to 16 knots during race one, which saw a jib change for race two, dropping down from the J3 to the J1. The sea state caused havoc for the five competing teams, with Alinghi RedBull Racing forced to withdraw at the last minute due to a technical issue, and they were unable to race. All teams struggled with the tricky conditions, frequently coming off the foils.
Athena Pathway engaged in a close battle with Emirates Team New Zealand on the second leg, but the Kiwi team ultimately fell off the foils, likely due to a technical issue, allowing GBR to take advantage and finish in third place in that race and in the overall Group A standings. Alinghi RedBull Racing and Orient Express Racing were both awarded four points each for the race after being sidelined by the race committee due to technical reasons.
Port Trimmer, Matt Beck said "It was really full on and on the edge today, a war of attrition just to get around the racetrack. The team that managed to do that, came away best in the end."
The fleet of twelve Youth teams is split between the invited teams in Group B and the Louis Vuitton 37th America's Cup teams in Group A. The Qualification Series consists of a total of eight races for both groups. The top three teams from each group will progress to a Final Series of four races, where the top two teams will go head-to-head in a winner-takes-all Final Match Race. Athena Pathway will continue in Group A tomorrow, with Races 3 and 4 starting at 10:30 CEST.