Red Bull Youth America’s Cup – March update

PATHWAY TO THE PROMISE LAND
The Red Bull Youth America’s Cup is a new event under the umbrella of the America’s Cup Event Authority, to be held in San Francisco during the break between the start of the 2013 America’s Cup Finals and the conclusion of the Louis Vuitton Cup (Sept. 1-4, 2013).

Among the ten international teams that will be participating, Scuttlebutt intends to provide a monthly update for the two North American teams selected to compete. Here’s what they are up to in March:
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American Youth Sailing Force (USA) –
We’re launching into our first month of concentrated on-the water training, with our biggest week to be the training sessions onboard Oracle Team USA’s AC45 mid-month. We’ll be on the water for three days with daily briefings and after practice debriefs with Oracle Team USA coaches and sailors. This practical help with speed and maneuvers was invaluable when we did the US Trials in November and we look forward to getting more hard information in this cycle.

We’ve also secured our training boat for when we aren’t on the AC45. We’ll be practicing on the SL33 Bridge Runner. This boat was designed specifically as a scaled down AC45 so what we learn on this boat will be directly applicable to the sailing we’ll be doing in the Youth America’s Cup. Our goal is to be out on the water three days a week, every week with our own coaching staff doing debriefs after each session.

We’ll be doing a lot of outreach during March. On March 6 to 8, we’ll be presenting the video we made of the US Trials at the San Francisco Ocean Film Festival’s Education program for more than 600 students. We’re also going to be starting up our work with the San Francisco Downtown High School’s boat building program for at risk youth. That should be challenging but rewarding. We’re also firming up our plans with Treasure Island Sailing Center for their summer community boating program for youth.

Team website: http://americanyouthsailingforce.com
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USA45 Racing (USA) –
March is a big month for USA45 Racing. Many of the team members are competing in the heat of their college sailing seasons, while Helmsman Charlie Buckingham and Grinder Matthew Whitehead train full time in the Olympic Laser and Nacra 17 catamaran, respectively.

The team will host its first fundraising event on March 12 at San Diego Yacht Club, where teammates Jake La Dow and Jake Reynolds will introduce the keynote speaker, Oracle team USA helmsman James Spithill! The night is designed to increase awareness and garner support for the team, as well as raise money for the campaign. A big thanks to Point Loma Outfitting for sponsoring the evening!

After the event in San Diego, the team will travel to San Francisco on March 14 to train in the AC 45’s out of Oracle’s base with local RBYAC team American Youth Sailing Force. It should be a great time to get back in the boats, and get the team all back in one place. One other big piece of news is the announcement of USA45 Racing’s coach. The team will be under the guidance of catamaran veteran and Olympic medalist Charlie Ogletree through to the competition in September! The team is excited for things to start ramping up for the big event.

Team website: http://www.usa45racing.com
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Note: All information is provided by each team. Further details here.