Women Driving in the America's Cup and Saudi Arabia
Pathways for women drivers in Saudi Arabia and AC40s
In 2017, as part of its vision 2030 plan, Saudi Arabia recognized women’s right to drive a car. It has been reported that there are now 2.5 million female drivers in the country of 35 million persons. If half the population is female, and half of the female population is of prime driving age, then 28% of the eligible women may be driving. Considering the prior severe penalties for driving and the ongoing challenges with other restrictions (like being in public without a male escort), this is pretty good progress.
Since the first America’s Cup race in 1851, there has never been a female driver. A woman, Leslie Egnot, skippered the America Cubed syndicate, an almost all female team in the 1995 cup. But America Cubed did not win the defender selection series, so did not sail in the America’s Cup itself.
In a phase shift as unimaginable as the jump to light speed or the Saudis giving up their place as the last country to prevent women from driving cars, this year the America’s Cup has launched an additional event for women only. Starting in the preliminary events this fall, there will be 12 all female teams competing for the women’s America’s Cup.
A Quick America’s Cup Review
It takes nearly complete concentration to keep the many moving parts of the America’s Cup in discernable mental order. For starters, the ‘s on the America does not imply ownership by the United States. The Americans last won in San Francisco 2013, but lost to New Zealand in 2017 in Bermuda.
Since the winner gets to pick the next venue, the 2021 event was held in Auckland, New Zealand, where the Kiwis won again. Unfortunately, very few fans we able to attend due to COVID. And fans will not be able to see the America’s Cup in New Zealand for the 2024 cup because the Kiwis decided to host it in Barcelona, Spain instead of their hometown.
The boats used in the races are also at the whim of the winner, and often change dramatically from one cup to the next. Mercifully, the new boat design introduced by the Kiwis last time (the foiling single hulled boat pictured here with the gangly orangutan arms that rotate up and down in the maneuvers) was so dramatic they are sticking with it for another round.
So, to recap:
The America’s Cup is currently held by New Zealand
New Zealand is hosting the event in Barcelona, Spain (Aug-Oct, 2024)
The boats are still the 75 foot foiling mono hulls invented by those inventive Kiwis for the 2021 (and now 2024) cup.
OK, Back to Women Driving
As we were discussing, women have competed in the America’s Cup in the past, but this next, 37th, America’s Cup is the first with an explicit strategy addressing the gender imbalance in cup events. The America’s Cup has fallen behind many other sailing events in addressing the issue. The Olympics aims to achieve 50/50 gender split in 2024 in sailing and all sports, and for the last two seasons, SailGP has required every team to have at least one female sailor onboard. So the organizers of the 2024 America’s Cup have gone big all at once.
The race organizers have introduced a 40 foot, one design (all the same) version of the raceboat that the America’s Cup teams will use for testing and training. Plus, each of the teams competing in the America’s Cup will field a youth team and a women’s team to compete in the AC40s. Plus, six more teams will be introduced.
So, The Teams in the America’s Cup AND in the AC 40s Youth and Women’s Leagues are:
Emirates Team New Zealand
Ineos Britannia
Alinghi Red Bull Racing (from Switzerland)
Luna Rossa Pada Pirelli (from Italy)
New York Yacht Club American Magic
Orient Express Racing Team (from France)
AND the Additional Youth and Women Teams are:
Spain
Netherlands
Canada
Germany
Sweden
Australia
There are two preliminary events scheduled and possibly more to come. The first one in Spain, very nearby to Barcelona, and the second one in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia starting the 30th of November, 2023.
The AC40 (pictured here) has no people grinding handles because the power for pulling sails in and whatnot is made by batteries. Also, a computer controls the ride height and a bunch of other operations, so there are only four sailors on each boat and they stay in their seats (not running from side to side).
The Saudis declared a goal of attracting 100 million tourists in their Vision 2030 plan. Hosting sporting events is a strategy they are steadily pursuing. In 2018 they hosted the WWE Greatest Royal Rumble, in 2019 the first Saudi International golf tournament, in 2020 the worlds richest horserace, in 2021 the first Saudi Arabian Formula 1 Grand Prix, in 2022 the Supercopa de Espana was held in Riyadh. In between there have been dirt bike racing, desert car rallys, tennis, skateboarding, women’s soccer, and of course LIV Golf. Ernst & Young says sporting events will be a $3 billion industry in Saudi Arabia next year.
The Saudis and the America’s Cup are going in big on women drivers, and we get to see it all this fall.
Links and Resources
America’s Cup Website: https://www.americascup.com/preliminary-regattas
Saudi Sailing Federation Website: https://www.sailsaudi.sa/
Arab News Listing Sporting Events in Saudi Arabia: https://www.arabnews.com/node/2146871/sport
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