The Red Bull Youth America’s Cup Team BDA have only three more days of practice in the Oracle Team USA AC45F before their training window slams shut.

Under the Red Bull event rules, all teams are only allowed seven training days in the AC45F before April 9. Weather allowing, Team BDA will be on the water this Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. They need to make the most of it.

Friday was their most recent practice and they shared time on the water with Next Generation USA. USA got the morning. Team BDA got the afternoon and a dying breeze.

Sailing in the very light breeze on Friday was not a total loss. Racing these 45-foot catamarans is not all about foiling. There is an upper limit of 20 knots so races will not be held if there is too much wind. There is no lower limit for wind in the Youth America’s Cup. In June, winning may be all about which team can make the most out of a breeze that’s under five knots.

Official races will be held even in the lightest wind. If the boats can get around the course, they will race.

Friday’s sailing was a test of nerves. Team BDA and the SoftBank Team Japan youth team matched up on an impromptu practice course set up by Bermuda’s coach Richard Clarke. Team Japan had the edge in start timing and speed off the line. They swept all of more than a dozen one lap practice races until Team BDA took the final with a better start and some better crew work and smoother sail handling.

Japan actually had an automatic edge on the day because they were sailing with Team Japan’s actual America’s Cup World Series boat equipped with their racing sails. Team BDA had a smaller Code Zero, the forward sail that looks like a jib but is bigger and has more fullness for speed in light wind conditions.

Japan also had just six sailing crew members who sailed the entire day whereas the Bermudian team are still in the midst of crew selection for their sailing team and is alternating two groups for equal time.

Team BDA have already selected Mackenzie Cooper as the skipper, Owen Siese as team manager and Peter Dill as boat captain. Cooper and Siese remained on board the AC45 throughout the day while the other four positions swapped out every hour or so, about every three races against Japan. Ceci Wollmann was at the helm with one group and Dimitri Stevens steered for the other.

While the “off watch” were aboard the chase boat, coach Clarke discussed light air sailing with the alternate helmsman and crew.

“Sailing in light air,” he emphasised, “You have to look for the dark spots, wind ripples caused by little puffs of breeze. They are like dots and you want to connect the dots to find the best wind to reach your next mark.” Clarke said that each crew member has a job and they have to master that first.

For the entire day every move was aimed at keeping up boat speed and picking the puffs and shifts on every leg of the course. It was frustrating and stressful for the young sailors. Many of the lessons learnt were mental and not physical. By the end of the six-hour sailing day, every crew member was exhausted.

The team had Saturday and yesterday off from sailing as high winds were expected. Next week will be critical for Team BDA training aboard the AC45F before returning to workouts on their smaller GC32 dubbed CAT-5 by the team.

As required by Red Bull Youth America’s Cup organisers, final Team BDA crew selections will not be made until next month.

For America’s Cup news or updates, Talbot Wilson can be reached at 595-5881 or 278-0143