Jemima Lines has hailed a “pivotal moment” in her sport after she became the first British woman to be selected for an America’s Cup team in 90 years.
The 29-year-old has been named in the GB1 team for next year’s event, which will be the first edition in its 175-year history to require at least one woman in each five-person crew.
Phyllis Sopwith was the last British woman to race aboard a British America’s Cup challenger, making appearances in 1934 and 1937.
“It has been a long time coming,” Lines told BBC Sport.
“It is incredible, what a moment in history and it is just so exciting, I think it is a pivotal moment for our sport really.
“It honestly is a massive honour and quite surreal. If you had told me that growing up I wouldn’t have believed it.”
Lines is a former kitefoiler on the British Sailing Team and was Team GB’s back-up to eventual gold medallist Ellie Aldridge at the Paris 2024 Olympics.
She has a degree in mechanical engineering, and has previously worked as a guide at Everest basecamp, scaled mountain summits and set altitude kite surfing records.
Her sense of adventure, she says, came from her late father, Ralph Crathorne, a former British special forces soldier who died in an accident on Ben Nevis earlier this year.
Asked what he would make of her selection for GB1, Lines said: “He would just absolutely love it, he was an absolute legend and an incredible adventurer.
“Every sport I have ever done, we have done as a family and that lead me to this. He lead me to this really.”
The 38th America’s Cup will take place in takes place in Naples, Italy, in 2027, with racing beginning in May and the final Match taking place on 10-11 July.
With her engineering background, Lines will also play a key role in the design team and help to develop the tools the GB1 crew will use on board the AC75.
She joins Bleddyn Mon, Dylan Fletcher, Ben Cornish and Andrea Tesei in the GB1 crew.
“The anticipation is massive for this one and all I can say is that coming into this team you can feel the buzz in the air,” Lines said.
“It is just a place full of legends, from the sailors to everyone working here. There is that daily drive and there is no waiting around.
“I think the team as a whole is expectational and I don’t really want to give the game away.
“It is a design challenge first off, then you take it to the water and that is the exciting thing that the race has already started and the rest is yet to come.”
