Email Print
Land Rover BAR launch academy
25 Jan 2016
The Red Bull Youth America’s Cup (RBYAC) will use the same AC45F boats used for the Louis Vuitton America’s Cup World Series
ACADEMY: The British America’s Cup Challenger and Land Rover have deepened their commitment to creating a sustainable talent programme in sailing with the launch of the Land Rover BAR Academy.
This new initiative will find and support talented young British sailors, and create a pathway into the America’s Cup.
The immediate goal is to select a British team to compete in the Red Bull Youth America’s Cup (RBYAC) in 2017.
Raced in the same AC45F that the senior teams use for the Louis Vuitton America’s Cup World Series, every America’s Cup Challenger and the Defender must enter a team into the RBYAC. The finals will be fought out during the main competition in Bermuda 2017.
The mentoring and support team will include Land Rover BAR Sailing Team Manager and three times America’s Cup winner Jonathan ‘Jono’ Macbeth.
Mr Macbeth commented: “The Extreme Sailing Series will provide a great opportunity to trial sailors in the Academy. This will be the first step to building a team for the Red Bull Youth America’s Cup in 2017.
“The longer term aim is to mentor young British sailing talent and build the next generation of British America’s Cup sailors.”
The project manager will be Rob Andrews, London 2012 Olympic Sailing/Venue Manager, and a former RYA Olympic coach.
The new Academy‘s coach will be Andrew Walsh, a former Extreme Sailing Series and Olympic multihull sailor and coach.
Land Rover BAR sailor and three time winner of the series, Leigh McMillan will lead the team into the first two events to help develop their skills at the helm of these high performance boats.