Women take to the seas in the first-ever Women’s America’s Cup

(NEW YORK) — Women are taking the helm at the 37th edition of the America’s Cup.

For the first time in the racing event’s storied 173-year history, all-female sailing teams representing longtime participants New Zealand, the United Kingdom, the United States, France, Italy and Switzerland will be joined by six new all-female teams from Spain, the Netherlands, Canada, Germany, Sweden, and Australia. The teams will take to the seas next week in Barcelona and compete in the brand-new Puig Women’s America’s Cup trophy.

While this is the first time all-female sailing teams will compete for this trophy, it is not the first time women take to the water. Dating back to the 1800s, women have been pivotal members of the sailing, engineering and building teams in America’s Cup but momentum to build up and invest in women sailors has always dwindled and stalled leaving women out of the world’s oldest continually contested sporting trophy.

The Puig Women’s America’s Cup is trying to change that. The inaugural yacht race, which begins Oct. 5, is in part intended as a pipeline for women to eventually enter and compete in the America’s Cup alongside male sailors.

Although there isn’t a formal gender restriction that keeps women from sailing in the America’s Cup, the sport has traditionally been dominated by men due to the intense physical nature of the sport. However, recent technological advancements have changed all of that, according to Coraline Jonet, project manager for Swiss Alinghi Red Bull Racing’s youth and women’s teams and herself a lifelong sailor.

“We saw that in the new boats half of the crew don’t need physical strength, which means women and men can do the same job,” she told ABC News. “Obviously, you need experience. And with this first women’s America’s Cup, doing all the jobs, getting that experience, will hopefully mean being able to join the America’s Cup.”

Marie Mazuay, 19, is a trimmer on the Alinghi Red Bull Racing women’s team and has been sailing since she was seven. Her job is to control the sails, adjusting them in relation to the changing wind to turn the boat and control its speed. Previously, that role would require the strength necessary to manually haul on the ropes or crank the sails in place. In the new, high-tech AC40 boats that the teams will be racing, that job is accomplished by using a video game-type remote controller.

For Mazuay, this is a full-circle moment. “It’s a real source of pride to be part of the new generation that is giving more and more opportunities for gender equity in sailing,” she told ABC News. “I’m proud to represent women in sailing alongside women who have achieved great things, and I know how lucky I am to be part of this generation, and I’m going to make sure that this path for women continues.”

And while Jonet and Mazuay hope Alinghi Red Bull Racing will win the Puig Women’s America’s Cup, they say the impact of the race itself surpasses winning a trophy.

“I hope that after this America’s Cup, people will take women more seriously and realize that they are just as competitive and hard-working as men,” Mazuay says.

“Young guys already see male sailors shining, and young girls will now be seeing women sailors as well shining, and the media highlighting them … it’s going to be inspiration and show them that their dream can be true,” Jonet said. “Little girls will see that they can make it. I hope that in time we’ll have more and more women treated just as a sailors, no matter which gender, with the skills that she will get from this kind of pathway.”