MADRID, 9 Mar. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Spanish sailor Guillermo Altadill, director of the Sail Team BCN, recognizes that the AC40 model vessels to compete in the 37th America’s Cup “are more almost video game than a conventional boat”, but advocates “trusting the talent” of its crew members. .
In an interview with Europa Press, Altadill stated that “there is no secret in sailing” because “it is a sport where there are no surprises and there have been none in the selection” of his crew for this year’s event in Barcelona with the Challenge of the Youth and Women’s Copa América.
“These months have made us see and confirm that the team we have is one of the best in the world. Because in sailing Spain is among the best in the world and the only thing we have to do is adapt to a very complex boat that is the AC40, a very technical boat. They are more almost video game than a conventional boat, and we will try to be there at the front,” commented Altadill.
“We made the team almost four or five months ago, and we are training. The girls are training as much as they can because they have Olympic preparation for the Paris Games and they don’t have that much time, the juniors have a little more time “, has added.
“We do not have enough resources to be within the countries like Alinghi or Team New Zealand to win because we do not have the boat yet to train. But come on, Spanish women in sailing are possibly among the top three in the world, they are Olympic champions, world champions and you have to trust in the talent they have. I think that in Barcelona in September-October we will be there not to win perhaps, but to be ahead,” he said.
Altadill has highlighted as a “positive aspect” the fact of “testing people first.” “It made us see that it was clear who had to be on the team, both youth and women. There have been no surprises, but simply confirmations that all the girls who are Olympic champions and world champions are the ones who are going to be in the Copa América,” he argued in this regard.
Finally, regarding adapting to AC40, he has seen “two aspects” in his analysis. “On the one hand, being an Olympic year, everyone is sailing and training hard, which is good because there are hours of water. On the other hand, since the boats are so complex, there are fewer hours to put into this type of boat. The boat with which you go to an Olympics is not the same as a boat in the America’s Cup,” said Altadill.
“So we have the pros and cons, but there is one thing and that is that all the teams have the same problem. The good people of the girls and the young people are involved in the Olympic campaign, all of them. So, everyone has the same problem and everything is equal,” he concluded.