The Spanish Quarter, the lively bustling area of Naples built by Don Pedero de Toledo in the 16th century that provided housing for the Spanish military infantry garrison guarding the city, was the exquisite setting for a memorable America’s Cup evening.
Government officials, teams, athletes, sponsors and the event organisers came together for the premiere European screening of ‘Mighty Mary’ – the remarkable film about the 1995 America’s Cup and the all-women’s team that billionaire Bill Koch formed to try and win the Defender selection trials, then called the Citizen Cup, in order to advance and try to defend the America’s Cup for the San Diego Yacht Club.
What unfolds is an incredible human-interest story as the women’s team came together under Dawn Riley, herself a winning member of the 1992 America3 syndicate, after newspaper adverts had been placed to find the most able female athletes and sailors to then undergo rigorous on-water and off-water training aligned with a design programme that was proven.
Narrated by Hugh Jackman and Elizabeth Banks, Mighty Mary covers a very different socio-political time, a time of change in sporting outlook and perception yet still rooted in male machismo and bravado. The Mighty Mary team began well and then faded in the opening round robins of the Citizen Cup, but when their new IACC yacht arrived, they closed the gap and eventually in a do-or-die race against Dennis Conner’s Stars and Stripes, famously won…or so the Mighty Mary team thought.
A backroom deal struck in the dead of night before the race kept Conner in the competition regardless of the result against Mighty Mary with the justification being the defence of the America’s Cup and the desire by the Americans to find the fastest boat to defend against a rapid Team New Zealand led by Sir Peter Blake.
It was a bitter pill to swallow for the Mighty Mary team, and one that still rankles today. Conner went on to eventually win the Citizens Cup by the slimmest of margins in a shut-down race but succumbed 5-0 to the Kiwis in the Match – the last time that the USA featured in an America’s Cup Final.
Directed by former Olympic rower Mary Mazzio, who was in Naples for the screening and took to the stage afterwards to be interviewed by double Olympic gold medallist Shirley Robertson, the documentary is a must-see for Cup fans eager to see the brutality of the competition that is won as much off the water as it is on the water.
Furthermore, the America’s Cup was honoured that so many of the original Mighty Mary team came to Naples for the screening – a reunion after some 30 years for many and the most incredible historic opportunity to bring together a team that re-defined the America’s Cup forevermore.
Speaking afterwards, Mary was ebullient saying: “What a full circle moment for the institution of the Cup that has, in the past, been stubbornly resistant to change. To have the America’s Cup celebrate the legacy of this all-women’s team, it’s magical and what’s so exciting is their story, which has been like a hidden gem in history, kind of lost to the dustbin of history is now going to ripple out for generations. And that is unbelievably exciting.”
Asked what the film, now on worldwide release, represents, Mary added: “It stands really for the simple principle that strength is equally distributed, talent is equally distributed, intelligence is equally distributed. It’s access and opportunity that are not. And this is ‘Exhibit A’ to what happens when you open up the umbrella of access.”
For the trailer and more information on viewing please see: www.mightymaryfilm.com
