“Then this opportunity came up, and it’s just such a cool opportunity to be involved with this team and to learn a whole new boat and style of racing. I think it’s just a big step forward for me in my sailing career.”
Dawson will shift from trimming to helming for the Women’s America’s Cup team’s bid in Naples next year, while she spearheads the women’s and youth programmes.
This week, she will sail on Team NZ’s second AC40 for the preliminary regatta in Naples – featuring sailors with the potential to feature in the women’s and youth regattas – alongside skipper and co-helm Jake Pye, and trimmers Serena Woodall and Josh Armit, with Helena Sanderson as the reserve sailor.
It’s the same group who sailed the second boat at the first preliminary regatta in Cagliari earlier this year, when they finished fifth in a field of eight.
“We kind of committed early in the year to this team and trying to get the best performance possible by sticking with the same crew, so that’s kind of where we’re at, and that’s what we’re sticking with for this event,” Dawson said.
This campaign has been a different experience to the last America’s Cup for Dawson, who has had a longer runway to the women’s regatta.
Ahead of the Barcelona event, which featured the inaugural Women’s America’s Cup, the New Zealand squad was confirmed less than a year out from the competition.
For the most part, the women’s and youth sailors have been working in the simulators, with more consistent time on the water in the AC40s to come later in the campaign. However, Pye, Armit, Woodall and Sanderson have all been involved with the main America’s Cup team’s AC75 campaign, absorbing information on both sides of the Team NZ campaign.
“Some of the team has been brought into the [AC]75 so they’ve been involved with that programme, which is cool,” Dawson said.
“But it also means I think the rest of us, we’re just on board a lot earlier than we were last time in the team and we’re around the base a lot more, and we’re involved in these events, so we’re sharing our briefings and our debriefings and just absorbing as much as we can.
“It’s really awesome for the level of the youth and women’s teams, and I guess it also, in a way, we’ve had the opportunity to be a lot more involved with the senior team, so that’s been really cool to learn off them as well.”
In Naples this weekend, the team will have an extra boat to contend with as late-entry ARC Team USA make their campaign debut.
That will see nine boats on the water, as Team New Zealand, Italy’s Luna Rossa and Great Britain’s GB1 all enter two boats, with the Americans, France’s La Roche Posay Racing Team, and Switzerland’s Tudor Team Alinghi entering one each. Late entry Team Australia will again be absent.
“I think it will definitely add to it as well, one extra boat and last time the British didn’t get many races in because of boat issues,” Dawson said.
“I think it will probably feel busier. I don’t think it’s going to change the way we approach anything or the way we’re sailing; it’ll just be maybe a few more interactions.”
During practice racing on Friday morning, Luna Rossa’s main team again looked like the ones to beat, with the Peter Burling-led crew winning all three of the day’s races. Team USA finished the day second and Team NZ’s top team third.
Dawson and the Team NZ women’s and youth entry were sixth.
“I think for us, just to know that we’re stepping forward and we’re improving each day and we’re not making the same mistakes over, we’re learning from our mistakes and we’re kind of building on them each day,” Dawson said of what a successful event would look like for her crew.
“We’d love to win a race and get a couple of top threes. I think that’d be pretty cool.”
Christopher Reive joined the Herald sports team in 2017, bringing the same versatility to his coverage as he does to his sports viewing habits.