What follows Women’s America’s Cup?

The Youth America’s Cup has been celebrated as a pathway toward bigger things. That’s hard to dispute when Peter Burling, Blair Tuke, and Andy Maloney, who just won the 37th America’s Cup, had won the inaugural Youth America’s Cup in 2013. But mostly, the youth event was a chance to sail cool boats. Mission accomplished!

However, the vibe surrounding the 2024 Women’s America’s Cup has more urgency, and there’s an eagerness for the next step. What form that takes is not known, but when British skipper Ben Ainslie was asked when women will be in the America’s Cup, his response was gender neutral: when they earn it.

While there have been women in the America’s Cup, rule requirements have been needed in The Ocean Race and SailGP. Women are getting opportunity in the Vendee Globe, but gaining experience at the elite level of sailing, in general, has been a challenge. For that reason,  there is the Olympic Sailing requirement of equal participation and medals for men and women.

British publication The Telegraph reviews the inaugural Women’s America’s Cup and debates whether it was a success and looks at what comes next: click here