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Youth America's Cup

RNZYS select shortlist for Youth America's Cup

Issue date

The Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron have shortlisted 17 talented youth sailors to be a part of their initial Youth America’s Cup squad from an initial pool of more than 90 applicants.

The shortlisted squad includes a variety of male and female sailors from different sailing backgrounds, including Mastercard RNZYS Youth Training Programme graduates, RNZYS Performance Programme sailors and graduates, as well as Olympic campaigners.

It features the likes of Nick Egnot-Johnson, the world's second-ranked match racer, under-23 49er world champions and Red Bull Foiling Generation world champions Isaac McHardie and William McKenzie and Leonard Takahashi, who is a member of Japan's SailGP squad and has been selected to represent Japan in the 49er at next year's Tokyo Olympics.

Among the females is Celia Willison, ranked ninth on the women's world match racing rankings, top women's 470 sailor Brianna Reynolds-Smith and members of the New Zealand Laser Radial squad Olivia Christie, Annabelle Rene-Younger and Courtney Reynolds-Smith.

The RNZYS received applications from more than 60 males and more than 30 females, an overwhelming response which shows the genuine excitement building behind the reinvigorated Youth America’s Cup event.  

A careful selection process was then undertaken by RNZYS training manager Reuben Corbett.

“It was really great to see so many young sailors apply for this squad and be keen to be involved in what is a truly exciting event," Corbett said. "Unfortunately we couldn’t select them all and there will be some disappointed applicants out there, however, we feel we have selected the best possible shortlist to then take forward into the next stage of the selection process.”

The shortlisted sailors will now be individually interviewed and will go through some rigorous fitness testing before the final squad of sailors is chosen.

RNZYS Youth America’s Cup Team Shortlist

Female: Olivia Christie, Annabelle Rene-Younger, Crystal Sun, Megan Thomson, Celia Willison, Olivia Hobbs, Charlotte Porter, Courtney Reynolds-Smith, Brianna Reynolds-Smith.

Male: William McKenzie, Leonard Takahashi, Isaac McHardie, Nick Egnot-Johnson, Zak Merton, Josh Wijohn, Taylor Balogh, Alastair Gifford.

As many as 15 teams from 12 nations have already officially entered the 2021 Youth America’s Cup, including two teams from New Zealand. The Royal Akarana Yacht Club have also entered a team.

Nations with representative yacht clubs are; New Zealand (2), Australia (2), Switzerland (2), Netherlands, Russia, Argentina, Hong Kong – China, Denmark, China, Germany, Spain, USA.

Entry is still open for this event until September 30, 2020, although this is subject to any space still available at that point. Due to such high demand, the RNZYS are encouraging any other clubs who are considering an entry to get this in as soon as possible. 

Crews must be between 18-24 years of age and consist of a mixed crew of four sailors on each boat, including two females and two male sailors with a maximum crew weight of 311kgs.

All racing will be on the brand new AC9F foiling monohulls which are being built at Yachting Developments in Auckland. The first AC9F is completed, and on-water testing will begin after New Zealand’s COVID-19 lockdown period ends.