Seven Catalan yacht clubs prepare to receive the America's Cup trophy

About one meter high and 14 kilos of silver give shape to the emblematic America's Cup trophy. Known as the Auld Mug, it is the oldest trophy still competed for internationally, and it is now ready to become the object of desire for the America's Cup teams. The Cup, first awarded in 1851 and passed from hand to hand among the competition's winners, will tour seven Catalan yacht clubs before the regatta begins in August.

Following the model and wake of the Olympic torch, the trophy will go on tour through various Catalan coastal municipalities, with the aim of bringing the competition and its history closer to the public. The Trophy Tour kicks off this Tuesday in L'Escala, moving on Wednesday to Palamós. After that, it will be the turn of Vilassar de Mar, Sitges, Tarragona, and Cambrils, before returning to Barcelona on July 1.

The trophy, originally known as the 100 Guineas Cup, made a pre-tour stop last week at CASA SEAT. The trophy was received by Cupra's chief brand officer, Ignasi Prieto, from the hand of America's Cup Event CEO, Grant Dalton, who recalled that this edition of the America's Cup is expected to record the largest audience in the competition's 173-year history, exceeding 1.5 billion people.

At each of the seven stops where the trophy will call, club members and municipal authorities have planned to welcome the Auld Mug through various activities. The planned program includes proposals on and off the water, such as an adapted sailing exhibition in L'Escala and various training regattas inspired by the America's Cup.

The trophy tour, programmed by America's Cup Event in collaboration with the Generalitat and local yacht clubs, will serve to warm up the competition. The cup, designed in 1848 by a royal London goldsmith, Edmund Cotterill, was donated by its original owner for the organization of the competition that in 1851 gave rise to the regatta. With the victory of the schooner America, which gave its name to the competition, the cup went with its winners to New York. After surviving a finally discarded proposal to melt it down to create commemorative medals, and after changing hands with various winners, the trophy now shines in Barcelona, ready for the 37th edition of the regatta.