All at sea! Australia in the race for new America’s Cup history
Olympian Lisa Darmanin pulled the plug on her quest for Games gold when her skipper got a job with an America’s Cup team. Now, in a major breakthrough for women in sailing, so has she.
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When two-time Olympian Lisa Darmanin’s cousin and sailing partner Jason Waterhouse was offered a gig with a Japanese America’s Cup team in 2016, she also got a job – making media videos and working in the hospitality suite talking to guests and “fluffing pillows”.
The doors that opened wide for Waterhouse in the male-dominated world of the America’s Cup were not ajar for his cousin at the time.
When Waterhouse, a new father, was offered another job for this America’s Cup cycle with Alinghi, it meant he had to sacrifice his Nacra 17 campaign – one male and one female crew – with Darmanin for the Paris Olympics. The mixed class had already reaped silver medal at the Rio Olympics, a top five in Tokyo and could well have delivered a gold in the waters of Marseille later this year.
“It was his dream come true and I was so proud of him,” Darmanin said of Waterhouse’s career move. “But at the same time I was devastated as well.“
Almost a year to the day after they last sailed together in an Olympic class regatta, Darmanin and 12 other Australian women and young male sailors have been confirmed as the Team Australia Challenge sailors for the 2024 America’s Cup.
The squad will be split between the inaugural Women’s and under-25 Youth America’s Cup regattas in Barcelona in September and October on the head-turning AC40 foiling monohulls, with Australia II skipper John Bertrand a patron of the campaign.
“Now I’m going to be involved in racing these super sonic boats,” said Darmanin, who hails from Sydney’s northern beaches, has a bachelor of commerce and an expanding career as an on-water reporter in events including the SailGP series and Sydney to Hobart yacht race.
“It’s a dream come true. The pendulum has finally swung our way
“All we ever wanted was an opportunity and now we have one.
“There’s also a strange little connection because, when I was at the University of NSW, I got the Ben Lexcen scholarship and it helped fund my uni degree and my Olympic campaign.”
Lexcen, described by Bertrand as the “Leonardo da Vinci of Australia”, was the designer of the famous winged keel, a closely guarded secret that helped Australia II and its skipper Bertrand to their historic 1983 victory.
The 4-3 comeback victory over Dennis Conner’s Liberty on September 26, 1983, ended an extraordinary 132-year winning streak by the US, triggered unprecedented mass celebrations across Australia and promoted then-Prime Minister Bob Hawke to don an unforgettable jacket and famously declare “any boss who sacks anyone for not turning up today is a bum”.
Joining Darmanin in the women’s team will be London 2012 Olympic silver medallist crewmate Olivia Price, who will also be racing at the Paris Olympics in the 49erFX, and Nina Curtis, who is with the Australian team on the SailGP circuit.
None were even born when Australia won the America’s Cup but they were all brought up on stories of the come-from-behind win.
Curtis, a mother of one who was born five years after the Australia II victory, said she still struggles to find the words to describe where she is heading later this year.
“As a young sailor I dreamed of the America’s Cup but I knew it was a near impossibility as a female,” said Curtis, who also lives on Sydney’s northern beaches and raced with Price at the London Olympics.
“To do this as the first team of women and under the Australian flag means more than I can say.
“To be in a female team in the America’s Cup is a great moment. It’s exciting.
“Hearing those stories of the Australia II win and everyone celebrating, it kind of reminded me of how we united with the Matilda’s and that national pride. It gives me goosebumps thinking about it.
“I hope the Australian public do it again for us.
“The female athletes’ story right now is exciting.”
Some athletes in the 13-strong squad can race on either the women’s or youth boat while others, such as senior stateswomen Darmanin, Curtis, Price and Zoe Thomson, are eligible only for the women’s team.
The final Team Australia Challenge combined squad also includes Tash Bryant, Miles Davey, Jack Ferguson, Sarah Hoffman, Tom Needham, Max Paul, George Richardson, Cole Tapper and Annie Wilmot.
“This means so much,“ said Brisbane’s Needham, 23. “It’s the biggest opportunity ever and we get to compete under the Australian flag.
“I really hope the Australian public get behind this. We’ve heard the stories about the America’s Cup, and the bosses not firing their staff and stuff, so we know how much that meant to Australia.
“We hope to bring that passion back as well.”
The F40s, supplied to each team as part of their entry, are raced by two drivers and two trimmers and used as training boats the America’s Cup proper.
As a consequence, the Australian squad has been sailing in a simulator – effectively a giant computer game – to prepare for their short time in the actual boats prior to the youth and women’s events.
The Youth regatta starts in Barcelona on September 17, with the final scheduled for September 26.
The Women’s regatta starts on October 5, with the final to be staged during the main America’s Cup racing program on October 13.
“It’s important to make the most of that contest and build for the future. You know, we have everything we need in this country. We just need to put it together, direct it, harness it, and get momentum. We want to bring the young sailors on, get them experience,” said America’s Cup Regatta director Iain Murray.
“We’re at the top of the wave and we’ve just got to keep pushing forward. We’re showing that we’re serious as a (sailing) country.”
Australian will compete against Spain, New Zealand, UK, Netherlands, Canada, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, Italy, USA and France.
The Australian and News Corp Australia are the official media partner of the Team Australia challenge. We will be providing our readers with exclusive stories in the lead-in and during the Puig Women’s America’s Cup and the UniCredit Youth America’s Cup www.theaustralian.com.au
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Originally published as All at sea! Australia in the race for new America’s Cup history
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