International Red Bull Trials Begin Tomorrow

As reported previously, both here and in the pages of Latitude 38, the second phase of crew selections for September’s Red Bull Youth America’s Cup will take place this month — with Session 1 beginning tomorrow.

Teams of young sailors, aged 19-24, from Australia, Austria, Denmark, Germany, New Zealand and South Africa will compete in this session, which concludes on the 15th. Session 2, running February 18-24, will include sailors from Argentina, the UK, Italy, Portugal and Switzerland.

All will be vying for crew positions aboard bona fide AC45 cats during the September 1-4 RBYAC — sandwiched between the Louis Vuitton challenger series and the AC Finals. All races in that series will be fleet racing rather than match racing, and should be thrilling to watch. Regardless of what you think about an energy drink as the title sponsor, we think Red Bull should be applauded for stepping up to host this unique event, which creates a viable gateway for talented young sailors to advance to the highest levels of pro sailing.

In addition to the teams which will survive this round of eliminations, six additional teams are already guaranteed a slice of September’s action, as they are affiliated with AC campaigns: China Team, France’s Energy Team, Emirates Team New Zealand, Artemis Racing / Swedish Youth Challenge, Oracle Team  USA / USA45 Racing, and San Francisco’s own (due to being the host city) Oracle Team USA / American Youth Sailing Force.

One word of caution, though. If you see AC45s blasting across the South Bay this month, you’d be wise to give them a wide berth. They are, after all, being helmed by student drivers!