As the excitement of the 35th America’s Cup reaches its peak, there is one University of Southampton student for whom the competition is just getting started.
Annabel Vose has just completed the final year of her four-year undergraduate master’s degree in Ship Science. She now joins six other talented young British sailors in Bermuda to compete in the Red Bull Youth America’s Cup from Monday 12 June.
Selected as part of Ben Ainslie’s Land Rover BAR Academy team, Annabel brings a lifetime of sailing experience to her role as strategist which she says involves taking a ‘big picture’ approach to the fast-paced match-racing the team will face.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2XIJWEOQbA
Annabel said:
In the Youth America’s Cup, we’re sailing in such a massive boat that will be going very fast with everyone’s heart rates at 170-180 in races, that last about 12 minutes or so, where it’s difficult to communicate and challenging to make a sensible decision at times.
My role is strategy which involves seeing the big picture, keeping things calm, looking at the course and seeing how the mode change might give us options to stay competitive during the races.
Annabel joins a number of Southampton graduates already in Bermuda as part of Land Rover BAR which has battled over the last fortnight to reach the qualifying semi-finals of the main America’s Cup competition.
We have more on Annabel’s thoughts on the Youth America’s Cup in this special feature.
