Just one month into 2013, America’s Cup action is already beginning to heat up the Bay. Sweden’s Artemis Racing is now making weekly appearances inside the Golden Gate as Oracle Team USA prepares to sail their AC72 next week for the first time since their capsize last October.
But though these big cats will just be testing, America's Cup racing is returning in a big way, with the Red Bull Youth Selection Series running February 9 – 24. Competing on AC45s, 11 youth teams from around the globe will compete for a slot in the Red Bull Youth America's Cup, to be held this summer between the Louis Vuitton Cup and the America's Cup Finals.
Marin Magazine caught up with Marin resident Genny Tulloch, producer/reporter for America's Cup Television, as she prepares to cover the youth trials for America's Cup Uncut, a short-form video news program that will air daily updates from shoreside.
How do you decide who will compete in the Red Bull Youth America's Cup?
There are basically three different ways teams can enter. First, there is the Red Bull Youth Selection Series, which we're hosting next week, which was open to teams to enter. We will have 11 teams here from countries such as the UK, Australia, Argentina, Denmark, and South Africa. Second, each of the America's Cup challengers are supporting a team, so we will have a youth team from France, China, New Zealand and Sweden. These teams receive a guaranteed spot. And third, the Defender had its own selection series back in December to decide on its two guaranteed spots, with one team representing the US and the other representing the City of San Francisco. There were so many good American youth sailors competing for those limited spots.
How will the selection series run?
We'll have two waves of teams, with six teams coming the first week and five coming the second. We're sailing out of Pier 80, down near the pier. The teams will be educated on the AC45 first on shore and then will get some practice time on the water. The teams will go through an evaluation process and then on February 24, we'll announce who is moving on to the Red Bull Youth America's Cup this September 1-4.
How can we follow the trials?
AC Uncut will be posting daily coverage on our YouTube channel. The format for AC Uncut is athlete-driven, so we'll have first-person interviews and behind-the-scenes footage. Our content teams will also be posting to americascup.com and on our Tumblr, which has been very popular with fans. We have an exclusive Facebook page for the Red Bull Youth AC and each of the entrants have their own pages as well. And then we'll have a wrap-up as part of AC Discovered.
What's the difference between AC Uncut and AC Discovered?
AC Uncut is focused on showcasing the personalities of the sailors. It's also a shorter format, with videos under 3 minutes, so we post them pretty regularly and distribute through all of our social media channels. AC Discovered is our weekly magazine show, which is a longer-format 25-minute show that airs on television as well as on YouTube. Those stories are more evergreen and are also more in-depth. AC Uncut is more immediate.
What's next for AC Uncut?
We'll be catching up with the medalists from London 2012. This America's Cup is full of Olympic athletes. We'll talk to gold medalists Nathan Outteridge (Australia), Tom Slingsby (Australia), and Ben Ainslie (UK), and silver medalist Iain Percy (UK). And we'll also be celebrating a very special anniversary, the win by Oracle Team USA of the 2010 America's Cup, on February 14.
2012 ACEA – Gilles Martin-Raget
