Can women become a much bigger part of the iconic America’s Cup?

Matteo Ciambelli/Reuters

When Louisa Nordstrom was growing up, the posters hanging in her bedroom didn’t portray pop stars or movie actors; instead, legendary British skipper Ben Ainslie was smiling from the wall, together with a dedicated autograph.

Twenty years later, it is Nordstrom – now an accomplished sailor who’s training to race in next year’s America’s Cup – who hands out autographs to young women and girls looking for inspiration to follow her footsteps.

“It’s a bit surreal,” Nordstrom says laughing to CNN Sports , before taking a more measured tone to reflect on her achievements. “I hope that young girls now are able to see more and more women at the highest level of sport and have something to aspire to and see that there is a path forward (in sailing).”

Nordstrom and her ARC Team USA crew are in Naples this month to prepare for the 38th edition of the Cup, which will be held in Italy in July 2027.

It will be the second European nation the world’s oldest still-running sports competition has visited (after Spain), but this year marks a historic first, with each team now required to field at least one woman as part of its crew.

CNN's Stefano Pozzebon cruises through the Gulf of Naples aboard a chase boat alongside Team USA as they train for next year's America's Cup — giving a firsthand look at the speed and power of modern racing sailboats. The 175-year-old competition returns to Italy for only the second time, but with a historic first: every crew must now include a woman on deck.

The inclusion of women, albeit mandatory, is no small matter, as sailing has long been accused of being a masculine environment, if not outright sexist.

One survey published this year by The Magenta Project, 11th Hour Racing and World Sailing shows that three out of four women involved in sailing believe gender balance is a problem, while more than 85% of the women polled said they experienced sexism.

“Sailing has historically been a very male-dominated sport and that’s the reality of it,” concedes Nordstrom, who believes however that the technological advances the sport has experienced in recent years has made it almost impossible to ignore calls for inclusions.

“In a lot of sports, there are inherent biological differences between men and women, the unique thing now with sailing is that it’s becoming a more leveled playing field with regards to the physical capabilities (of the sailors),” she added.

Ivan Romano/Getty Images

Gone are the days of pulling ropes and lifting weights on the yachts. The AC40 and AC75 that Nordstrom trains with are fiberglass vessels where sails are lifted by hydraulic pressure and the route is analyzed by powerful computers.

Jumping behind the steering wheel of one of the boats Nordstrom sails on feels like crawling into the cockpit of a race car rather than the cabin of an elegant yacht.

On the left side, a series of buttons and automatic commands activate the lines to lift the sails, even in rough sea conditions.

Nordstrom’s seat is within the hull of the boat, allowing only for the top of her head and eyeline to peek over and set the course – or half of it anyway.

“The sail goes down in the middle of the boat, so when you’re sailing, you actually can’t see half of the racecourse, so you’re blind!” she says.

Once at sea, cameras can only get a feeling of the real speed the AC40 is capable of as it foils past supporting boats and other vessels in an elegant breeze.

“All of this signals an age of change where the physicality, that brute strength side of sailing that was so prevalent forever is, I wouldn’t say eliminated, but darn close,” Ken Read, one of the most successful sailors in US history and the CEO of ARC Team USA, tells CNN Sports.

“It’s a lot more cerebral, and we all know women are smarter. Fitness is important, but mental capacity… I am often asked how does one get to be an America’s Cup sailor? I’d say stay in school and become an engineer,” says Read, who competed in two America’s Cups in 2000 and 2003.

“You look at the boats I sailed in 2000 and then you look at these boats, and it’s a completely different animal. The sport of sailing has evolved more than any other.”

Al Bello/Getty Images

The role of women is integral to that evolution because, decades before this year’s breakthrough, women have long been around the America’s Cup.

In 1995, an almost-all-female crew led by Dawn Riley on board the Mighty Mary nearly managed to represent the US in the 1995 edition, a feat chronicled in a new documentary out this year of the same name.

Seeing the Mighty Mary take on the male crews back then “was like watching Princess Leia take on Darth Vader,” a spectator to the event says in the film.

Despite a valiant effort on the water, that milestone failed to normalize a more ever-present female presence at the Cup for almost three decades.

Then in 2024, a new standalone event – the Women’s America’s Cup – was launched as part of the 37th edition in Barcelona, Spain, paving the way to the change in regulations and the mixed competition launched this year. Nordstrom and several of the athletes training in Naples when CNN visited took part in that event, which they think should be a mandatory step before climbing to the main competition.

“(Female participation) should not come as mandatory,” says Shirley Robertson, a former Olympic sailor and presenter of CNN’s Mainsail program, who’s now working as a broadcaster for the Cup.

Alessandro Gentile / CNN

“However, unless you mandate it, it would never happen. It took 32 years from Mighty Mary , but this year’s achievement is truly historic. This is a competition that means a lot to a lot of people… and there are a lot of traditions,” Robertson tells CNN Sports.

For her part, Nordstrom shrugs off her achievement in the America’s Cup with a matter-of-fact attitude: “The goal, ultimately, is to have the best people on the boat, and now more than ever there’s more opportunities to gain that experience for females, so it should become level with time.”

Nordstrom’s role as a sailor is not just limited to the Cup. Before the 2024 Women’s America’s Cup, she also competed in the qualifiers for the Paris 2024 Olympics in the 470 Class , a much smaller vessel composed of a mixed, two-person crew.

With the Summer Games heading to Los Angeles in 2028, is that also on her mind?

“The opportunity to compete on home waters (in the US) is amazing and it was definitely something that I was looking to do. However, … getting to be a part of the America’s Cup campaign, it’s kind of like a once in a lifetime opportunity that you don’t want to pass up. I’m definitely putting all my energy into this campaign at the moment.”

Matteo Ciambelli/路透社

路易莎·诺德斯特罗姆小时候，她卧室里挂着的海报不是流行歌星或电影演员的；而是英国传奇船长本·安斯利面带微笑地站在墙上，旁边还有他的亲笔签名。

二十年后，诺德斯特罗姆——如今已是一位技艺精湛的水手，正在为参加明年的美洲杯帆船赛而进行训练——为那些渴望追随她脚步的年轻女性和女孩们签名。

“这感觉有点不真实，”诺德斯特罗姆笑着对CNN体育频道说道，随后语气变得沉稳起来，回顾了自己的成就。“我希望现在的年轻女孩们能够看到越来越多的女性在最高水平的体育赛事中崭露头角，从而树立榜样，并看到（帆船运动中）还有前进的道路。”

本月，诺德斯特罗姆和她的 ARC 美国队队员们正在那不勒斯备战第 38 届美洲杯，该赛事将于 2027 年 7 月在意大利举行。

这将是世界上历史最悠久的仍在举办的体育赛事继西班牙之后访问的第二个欧洲国家，但今年标志着一个历史性的开端，即每支队伍现在都必须至少派出一名女性作为其团队成员。

CNN记者斯特凡诺·波泽邦乘坐一艘伴航艇，跟随美国队在意大利那不勒斯湾进行训练，为明年的美洲杯帆船赛造势——他得以近距离感受现代赛艇的速度和动力。这项拥有175年历史的赛事第二次重返意大利，但却迎来了一个历史性的突破：每支船队都必须有一名女性船员。

虽然女性的加入是强制性的，但这绝非小事，因为帆船运动长期以来一直被指责为男性主导的环境，甚至可以说是彻头彻尾的性别歧视。

今年由 Magenta Project、11th Hour Ra​​cing 和世界帆船联合会发布的一项调查显示，四分之三的帆船运动女性认为性别平衡是一个问题，而超过 85% 的受访女性表示她们经历过性别歧视。

“帆船运动历来都是一项男性主导的运动，这是事实，”诺德斯特罗姆承认道。但他相信，近年来这项运动的技术进步使得人们几乎不可能忽视要求包容女性的呼声。

她补充说：“在很多运动项目中，男性和女性之间存在着固有的生理差异，而帆船运动的独特之处在于，它正变得越来越公平，男女运动员的身体能力也越来越接近。”

伊万·罗马诺/盖蒂图片社

在游艇上拉绳举重的日子已经一去不复返了。诺德斯特龙训练用的AC40和AC75是玻璃钢船，船帆由液压系统升起，航线则由强大的计算机进行分析。

坐上诺德斯特龙公司旗下船只的驾驶舱，感觉就像是爬进赛车的驾驶舱，而不是优雅游艇的船舱。

左侧有一系列按钮和自动指令，即使在恶劣的海况下也能激活绳索升起船帆。

诺德斯特罗姆的座位位于船体内部，只允许她的头顶和视线探出船外来确定航向——或者至少是航向的一半。

“帆降在船的中间，所以航行时，你实际上看不到赛道的一半，你就像瞎子一样！”她说。

一旦驶入大海，摄像机只能感受到 AC40 真正的速度，因为它在优雅的微风中掠过支援船只和其他船舶。

“这一切都标志着一个变革时代的到来，帆船运动中曾经盛行的体能和蛮力，我不会说已经完全消失，但也相去不远了，”美国历史上最成功的帆船运动员之一、ARC美国队首席执行官肯·里德告诉CNN体育频道。

“这更考验脑力，我们都知道女性更聪明。体能固然重要，但脑力也同样重要……我经常被问到怎样才能成为美洲杯帆船赛的水手？我的建议是继续上学，成为一名工程师，”里德说道，她曾于2000年和2003年参加过两届美洲杯帆船赛。

“你看看我2000年开的那些船，再看看现在的这些船，简直是天壤之别。帆船运动的发展速度比其他任何运动都快。”

Al Bello/Getty Images

女性在这一演变过程中扮演着不可或缺的角色，因为早在今年取得突破的几十年前，女性就一直活跃在美洲杯帆船赛场上。

1995 年，由 Dawn Riley 带领的几乎全由女性组成的船员驾驶着 Mighty Mary 号，几乎成功地代表美国参加了 1995 年的比赛，这一壮举被记录在今年上映的同名纪录片中。

影片中一位观众说，看到“强大的玛丽号”当年与男子船员们对抗，“就像看到莱娅公主对抗达斯·维达一样”。

尽管在水上做出了英勇的努力，但这一里程碑式的成就并没有使女性在美洲杯赛场上更加普遍地出现，这种情况持续了近三十年。

随后在2024年，一项全新的独立赛事——女子美洲杯帆船赛——作为第37届美洲杯帆船赛的一部分在西班牙巴塞罗那举行，为规则的改变和今年推出的混合比赛铺平了道路。诺德斯特龙和CNN记者到访那不勒斯时，一些正在那里训练的运动员也参加了这项赛事，他们认为女子美洲杯帆船赛应该是晋级主赛事的必经阶段。

“（女性参赛）不应该是强制性的，”前奥运帆船运动员、CNN《Mainsail》节目主持人雪莉·罗伯逊说道，她现在担任美洲杯帆船赛的播音员。

亚历山德罗·詹蒂莱/CNN

“然而，除非强制规定，否则这永远不会发生。从‘大力玛丽’到今年，用了32年的时间，但今年的成就确实具有历史意义。这项赛事对很多人来说意义重大……而且有很多传统，”罗伯逊告诉CNN体育频道。

诺德斯特罗姆本人则以一种务实的态度看待她在美洲杯帆船赛中取得的成就：“最终的目标是让最优秀的人才登上赛场，而现在女性比以往任何时候都有更多机会获得这种经验，所以随着时间的推移，这种情况应该会趋于平衡。”

诺德斯特罗姆作为一名帆船运动员的角色不仅限于美洲杯。在2024年女子美洲杯帆船赛之前，她还参加了2024年巴黎奥运会470级帆船的资格赛，这是一种由两名男女混合船员组成的小型帆船。

鉴于2028年夏季奥运会将在洛杉矶举行，这是否也是她考虑的事情呢？

“能在美国本土水域参赛真是太棒了，这绝对是我一直想做的事情。但是……能参与美洲杯帆船赛的征程，这简直是千载难逢的机会，你绝对不想错过。我现在肯定会全力以赴投入到这项赛事中。”