America's Cup AC40 boat Photo: Supplied
Team New Zealand are seeking the country's best women and youth sailors to race during next year's America's Cup.
The Women's and Youth America's Cup Events will be raced in the one design AC40 class in the weeks leading up to and during the America's Cup in Barcelona.
New Zealand is one of 12 teams from 12 nations competing in each event.
The AC40 is sailed by four people, a driver and a trimmer on each side. Drivers need to be able to steer accurately and make clear tactical decisions under pressure. Trimmers need to have a good feel for balance, speed and how the boat is moving while being quick and accurate when changing modes.
All applicants need to be at least 18-years-old and under 25 to qualify for the youth boat.
Team New Zealand's performance engineer Elise Beavis and sailor Josh Junior will initially asses the applications and make selections based on sailing experience, ability, leadership, team work as well as the applicants individual motivations.
The prospects will be refined down to eight people in each team by the seven person selection panel. The shortlisted sailors will spend a week at Team New Zealand being assessed on a number of levels including AC40 simulator sailing, team participation and attitude before the final teams of five sailors are named in December.
"For the women's team, we are lucky enough to have a strong pool of very talented female sailors in New Zealand, so we are excited to see what applications come in," Beavis said.
"We are open to women of all ages that want to apply. Our objective is to create a pathway for the best female sailors into the America's Cup and to create the strongest 'team' in every sense of the word. And through their performance and presence at the Women's America's Cup, inspire future generations of female sailors into professional sailing and to create wider industry opportunities also. That is the fundamental objective of this process"
Junior, who is a former Youth America's Cup winner, has developed a clearly defined strategy for selecting the best of New Zealand's talent.
"We want to develop high performing teams that can win and represent Emirates Team New Zealand with pride, passion, and professionalism on and off the water, traits the team always illustrates," he said.
"For the youth team we aim to provide the best New Zealand youth sailors with an America's Cup and Emirates Team New Zealand experience that will give them the opportunity to become the next generation of world beating professional sailors and continue the success of New Zealand Youth America's Cup teams."
Another of the selection panel members, Team New Zealand chief operating officer Kevin Shoebridge has been an integral part of Team New Zealand's successful evolution.
"One of the strengths of Emirates Team New Zealand over its 30 year history has always been to continue to grow the team by integrating new talent across the board. So this selection process is a critical part of the teams future success on the water." Shoebridge said.
"So this is a really exciting and vitally important selection process to go through when thinking of the next generation of Emirates Team New Zealand."
Applications opened on Thursday and close on 9 June.