The team of the legendary New York Yacht Club (NYYC), which for 132 years retained the America's Cup, is already training in Barcelona. On Thursday, after the official christening of the Magic – the eighth AC40 in the fleet – the sailors took to the water. It is the second of the six teams, after the Swiss Alinghi Red Bull Racing, to move to the city. The rest will come during the month of July. The arrival of the participants marks the first major turning point in the preparation of the America's Cup. Efforts are now focused on the celebration of the first preliminary regatta in Vilanova i la Geltrú, which will take place less than three months from now, from September 14 to 17.
"In Vilanova we will be able to see all the teams competing for the first time; this first preliminary is helping us at all levels to make decisions for next year in Barcelona", maintains the Irish Leslie Ryan, director of organization of the 37th edition of the America's Cup (AC37 ). Beyond the sporting field, the four days of regatta in Vilanova are seen as a decisive test in the operational field. The objectives, on a different scale, are the same: to turn the maritime competition into a major event on land. Attract the public to the beaches of Vilanova, turn the village into a space where many things happen, select suppliers, attend to journalists from all over the world... "What happens in Vilanova will help us decide many things in Barcelona". insists the director.
The engine of the America's Cup is located in the offices of the World Trade Center (WTC) in Barcelona, with privileged views of the city and practically the bases of all the participating teams. In permanent contact with the New Zealand offices, from here all the fringes are tackled and structure is woven for an event of the first international order and with an origin that goes back to 1851.
After the designation of Barcelona as the seat of the America's Cup, in a first phase of the organization, the location and construction of the bases to house the boats and technical equipment of the six teams was the priority. In this section, the collaboration and working side by side with the port of Barcelona was decisive. Now the six bases are almost finished. First challenge passed.
"The team has worked hard over the last few months to get everything ready and start operating from our base, which will be our home for the next 16 months," says the coach of the NYYC American Magic, Tom Burnham in the first statement released from Barcelona. The base is located at the MB92 shipyard, a short distance from Barceloneta beach, near the W hotel and in front of the WTC, where they have erected two large hangars to house the ships and all the technical deployment.
The team, around a hundred people - which can be more or less depending on the schedule of preparation, training and events - has been setting up in Barcelona for a few days, as did the Swiss months ago. Alinghi Red Bull Racing was the first team to arrive in Barcelona. And during the month of May alone, the Swiss trained for 17 days at sea, testing boats and crew.
The arrival of the Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli is scheduled for next week and America's Cup hosts and supporters, Emirates Team New Zealand, led by AC37 CEO Grant Dalton, will do so around the 15 of July His main boat is already on its way to Barcelona. The Ineos Britannia is scheduled to arrive at the end of July and the last to arrive in the city, in August, will be the French Orient Express Racing Team, the last to confirm their participation in the challenge.
So, from now on and throughout the summer, Barcelona residents will be able to watch from the beach how these spectacular AC40 and AC75 boats sail a few meters from the coast, for what will be the future regatta field. The teams test new technologies and new foils (hydrofoils) that provide these boats with incredible speeds above the water, exceeding fifty knots.
The possibility of seeing the boats live from the beach and the seafront of the city is one of the aspects that make the Barcelona edition unique and is a feature that was also valued when looking for a location for hold the first preliminary regatta. In Vilanova i la Geltrú, as in Barcelona, the regattas can be seen from the front line of the coast and will also be broadcast live and open at the same location and all over the world.
The teams will leave their base and summer training in Barcelona to travel to Vilanova i la Geltrú at the beginning of September, days before the regattas, and temporary bases will be erected to accommodate the cranes and house their AC40 sailboats. These boats are the ones that will be used for the Puig Woman's American Cup and the Youth American Cup, which are being held in Barcelona for the first time and which will allow you to see the best sailors in the world in action and the quarry of future champions. Twelve teams will participate in each category and, in this case, the epicenter of the test will be located in the renovated Olympic Port.
"In Vilanova we are now working on the bases so that all the teams can be installed there", insists Ryan. The operational focus is now on this scenario. The preliminary regatta is seen as the big dress rehearsal at all levels. Here it is planned to locate at least three points with giant screens to follow the competition. In Barcelona, Moll de la Fusta will be the key location for the public and at least three other points with screens will be installed there so that citizens can follow all the details of the regattas.
Parallel to the bulk of the operation, the volunteering program also started a few days ago. The process to select 2,300 people has already started, so in the next few days we will know the names of the first confirmed ones who will take part in the preliminary regatta that will take place in Vilanova i la Geltrú.
