The America's Cup teams train in Barcelona waters with their sights set on the competition; the city is finalizing accelerated works to shine during the regattas, and the four trophies are already in Barcelona. "Everything is ready, and we will be working until the last day to make it a success," guaranteed the municipal manager of the City Council, Albert Dalmau, in the "Everything you want to know about the America's Cup" series organized by The New Barcelona Post.
"We have been working for two years, from the bid we went to seek to the arrival of 1,200 people whom we have welcomed and integrated, with bases that we have had to build, relating to the surrounding neighborhoods and managing mobility and security," illustrated Dalmau in the session that closed the series, held at the Old Estrella Damm Factory with the sponsorship of the Port de Barcelona, the City Council, Estrella Damm and the Fundació Barcelona Capital Nàutica, in addition to the collaboration of Giny and Must Media Group.
The actors involved in the America's Cup landing in the city are clear that Barcelona must leave its mark on the competition, while the competition must leave its mark on Barcelona. But what will endure in the city? Moderated by journalist Maria Xinxó and under the name of Navigating towards the future: the legacy of the America's Cup, the last session of the series addressed this question with the president of the Port, Lluís Salvadó; the head of Innovation of the port infrastructure, Emma Cobos; the general director of Barcelona de Serveis Municipals (B:SM), Marta Labata; the director of the Fundació Barcelona Capital Nàutica, Ignasi Armengol, and the coach of Sail Team BCN, Mónica Azón.
"We did not want to organize just an America's Cup, but it had to be done with Barcelona's DNA; events are one thing, and events in the city of Barcelona are another," stated the municipal manager, a resident precisely of Barceloneta, who is witnessing the competition firsthand: "We have worked on it, and I can assure you that the city is ready to host the America's Cup."
The competition will not only contribute to Barcelona's global positioning, but also, specifically, to that of its port. "At a Mediterranean level, we are a large port, but internationally, we are a modest infrastructure," Salvadó pointed out. Hosting the America's Cup will contribute to boosting it on an international scale, which is why "the positioning of the Port in the global context will be a relevant element of the competition's legacy." Salvadó highlighted the fact that the investment required to carry out the regatta has been optimized, "doing things the Catalan way," and the importance of engineering in the America's Cup, with the "repercussion it can have on the maritime and nautical sector."
Transformations on the coast
Among the legacy that the competition will leave in the city are urban transformations focused on the Barcelona coastline, such as the 120 million in 22 public and private actions in the Port Vell, and all those that have contributed to opening the Port to citizens and the blue economy. "Barcelona must be a pole of attraction for talent linked to this sector," Cobos defended. The Port has set out to do so through reforms of spaces such as a startup hub and the Moll de Pescadors, which join the openings of citizen areas such as the Nova Bocana. "With the blue economy, Barcelona has the opportunity not only to generate jobs, but to position itself as an international benchmark in this field."
Among the urban reforms that the America's Cup has accelerated, that of the Port Olímpic also stands out, which has not only transformed its physiognomy, but also its uses. The urban port has been reconfigured prioritizing the blue economy and popular nautical activities, in addition to gastronomy, in order to attract citizens beyond those linked to the sea, as explained by the general director of B:SM.
Labata, who recalled that the Port Olímpic has scheduled a citizen festival on July 21 to celebrate its transformation, defended that the infrastructure has gone from being a "bunkerized" space to becoming a promenade and gastronomic area, with 11 proposals that will open in the coming weeks. The transformation of the Port Olímpic has been conceived with sustainability as a transversal axis, with projects such as the installation of artificial reefs on the seabed to regenerate the biodiversity of its environment, which will show its progress to port visitors through screens connected to underwater cameras.
Sustainability and the care of the sea and the environment are the underlying objective and the consequence of promoting nautical practice and hobby. "One loves and respects what one uses," also in the case of the sea and the sports that use it as a playing field, Armengol proclaimed. In this sense, the director of the Fundació Barcelona Capital Nàutica highlighted the importance of the programs promoted to bring sailing and nautical sports closer to citizens, also to younger people through schools: "The firm commitment is that the America's Cup will truly open the sea to all citizens."
The Barcelona edition of the America's Cup will go beyond the material legacy, and also wants to sneak into the collective memory of the city: it aspires for every Barcelonian to remember for years the ceremony that will kick off the final regatta. The spectacle, inspired by the opening of the 1992 Games, aims to gather 30,000 people on the beach on October 10. The event, which reserves the surprise factor, has been designed "to be a unique moment and that, just as the '92 ceremony is remembered, the America's Cup ceremony in Barcelona will also be remembered in 15 years," according to Armengol. Framed in the program of the Cultural Regatta, "the ceremony will make us feel very proud of who we are."
The women's category as a Barcelona legacy
Although the America's Cup will leave its legacy in the city, the city will also do so in the competition. The regatta will take from its passage through the Catalan capital what will be the first edition of the category exclusively starring women. "And women's competition is here to stay," Azón guaranteed. The world champion highlighted the importance of launching this category for the first time in 173 years of the competition's history, which contributes to the "visualization of female athletes."
"We have to go further and aspire to repeat in future editions, for future generations," proclaimed the coach of Sail Team BCN, which brings together both the youth team and the women's team. The creation of the team has represented an "incredible opportunity, and it is leaving its mark," she claimed.
Azón, who assured that her hardest task in the team was having to discard candidate sailors, recalled that Sail Team BCN trains with a handicap: it does not have the boat with which it will compete, and will not be able to train with one of them until days before the start of the regatta. These are the AC40s, boats that fly thanks to hydrofoils known as foils, which allow them to reach speeds that "triple the actual wind speed."
The cost of the boats with which the youth and women's teams will compete is around two million euros, which is why most of the participating countries do not have these boats for training, as is the case with Sail Team BCN. Azón's team has compensated for this with a catamaran and a simulator. "Going from there to the boat, does it work? It works halfway," Azón said, whose team recently moved to Barcelona, coming from Port de Sitges, where they have trained in recent months.
During the ten weeks remaining until the youth and women's regattas begin, the team will continue training with energy and with their sights set on securing a place in the city's history, as well as in the competition's. This was stated by Azón in a session that closed the cycle organized by The New Barcelona Post to bring this competition closer to the public. The cycle, which consisted of four sessions, reviewed the history and impact of the event; the functioning and rules of the game of the competition, and the reasons why the regatta is considered a benchmark in innovation, elements framed within Barcelona's desire to make history in this edition.