Vilanova i La Geltrú is the capital of the Garraf region and the thirteenth most populated city in the province of Barcelona. It is home to the Campus Universitari de la Mediterrània, the Railway Museum of Catalonia, and its port is the third most important on the Catalan coast. When this weekend ends, to its resume as a city it will be able to add and boast of having hosted the first preliminary regatta of the awaited America's Cup, one year before the celebration of the races that will take place in Barcelona waters between August and October 2024.
Now the teams are really sailing. They are doing so beyond the training, technical tests, and exhibitions they have carried out in recent months in front of the beaches of the capital of Catalonia. That spring of 2022, when this was not even imagined, is increasingly distant. On March 28 of that year, Barcelona woke up knowing that its port and coastline would host the oldest trophy in the history of sport, dating back to 1851. The cup, a nautical competition, has been considered in recent decades as the third most projected global sporting event, only preceded by the Olympic Games and the Football World Cup.
And it's here. The bases distributed throughout different docks of the Port de Barcelona are already at full capacity, although these days the absolute protagonist will be the port of Vilanova and its waters. The regattas will take place this Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, from 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m., while Thursday was reserved for training regattas, with activities for the public in the so-called Race Village. These will run from Thursday to Sunday between 12 noon and 11 p.m.
The organization, of course, wants everything to go well and to engage the public, reminding everyone that all activities on land are free and there is no need to buy tickets to enjoy the spectacle at sea. With this, they hope to attract some 40,000 people to the capital of Garraf, including those who want to watch the regattas from the sea, where certain areas around the racecourse have been reserved. In that case, it is necessary to fill out an attendance form for the vessel, for which areas have been reserved in coordination with the boats and patrol vessels of Salvamento Marítimo, Guardia Civil, and Mossos d'Esquadra. It is contemplated that anything from superyachts to paddle surf boards, jet skis, small sailboats, or all types of boats will be able to be in these different limited areas and enjoy these days in primera fila. For those who cannot or do not want to watch them from the water or the coast of Vilanova, the organization will broadcast the regattas through its official website, the Youtube channel, and through different TV channels.
What will happen?
These days mark the first of three pre-regattas in which all America's Cup teams will participate. The second will be held at the end of November, 4,000 kilometers to the southeast, in Jeddah, the largest city in Saudi Arabia, and the third will take place in August of next year in Barcelona. Both in Garraf and in Arabia, the regattas will be sailed in AC40s, a new type of sailboat with which youth and women's categories compete, while the third regatta will be raced (it is difficult to simply define what these boats do as sailing) with AC75s, the flying sailboats with which the America's Cup will be disputed.
Who's who?
The participating teams are the six that in recent months have already been sailing for days and days in Catalan waters: first, we must name the defender of the Auld Mug, the Emirates Team New Zealand, which competes on behalf of the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron, based in Auckland and has as its main sponsor the enormous airline from Dubai, the watchmaker Omega, the automotive corporation Toyota, and the brewer Estrella Damm. The New Zealanders are the ones who have been sailing their AC40 the longest and are aiming high.
Another participant is Ineos Britannia, representing the Royal Yacht Squadron based in Cowes, on the Isle of Wight, England. The team is a personal endeavor of Sir James Arthur Ratcliffe, the British billionaire who leads Ineos chemical company and is supported by the fashion brand Belstaff, from the same Ineos group, as well as AMG, a division of the Mercedes automotive company. As a curious fact, the team's coach is the Basque Xabi Fernández, an Olympic champion.
The Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli is the Italian representative in the competition. It sails on behalf of the Circolo della Vela Sicilia, based on the beautiful beach of Mondello, a neighborhood in Palermo. The team is supported by the well-known Milanese fashion brand Prada and Pirelli, the multinational tire company also from Milan. As a curious fact, the factory in Vilanova i la Geltrú was the first Pirelli brand factory installed outside Italy 121 years ago. More focused on training in the AC75 in Sardinia and Barcelona than in the AC40, they also promise to be one of the leaders these days in Garraf.
From Switzerland, the Alinghi Red Bull team represents the ancient Société Nautique de Genève, Geneva's most traditional sailing club. With the absolute support of the powerful Austrian brand Red Bull and the watchmaker Tudor, the team, with Ernesto Bertarelli as owner, is the one that has dedicated the most time to training in Barcelona waters, having even set up a provisional base next to Marina Vela before occupying the definitive one, on the former Cinesa grounds at Muelle de España.
The French team that also aspires to win the America's Cup and is competing in the pre-regattas in Vilanova was the last to sign up for the competition. It is called Orient Express and is the new brand of the Accor group, the Gallic hotel empire born from a small Novotel hotel founded in 1967. Now the Accor group owns or manages some 5,500 establishments worldwide. The AC40 with which the team representing the Société Nautique de Saint-Tropez will compete these days has been one of the great joys for the organization, as it will attract thousands of French people both to this event and, above all, to the weeks of official competition in Barcelona.
Finally, the sixth team entering the regattas is American Magic, an American team competing on behalf of the New York Yacht Club. It is supported by TSI, a high-tech company specializing in measurement, the city of Pensacola, Florida, Quantum sailmakers, and this week, the Madrid-based brewery Mahou-San Miguel has joined the team as a main sponsor. In addition to the recent sponsorship, the team has a Spanish presence in the person of Juan Messeguer, the Valencian who designed the sails they compete with.
After Thursday's training sessions, the boats will compete Friday and Saturday in the so-called fleet races, which means everyone will battle against everyone else on the water and accumulate points. In this way, on Sunday, the two best-ranked teams will dispute the grand final in a match race format, or boat against boat, which is the modality that will be competed in the America's Cup in 2024.
These pre-regattas have no competition value, although the teams will fight as if it were a grand final. However, the result from Vilanova will determine the order of confrontations in the challenger selection phase. Not only that: there will be a spectacle, and each of the six teams will begin to mark their territory and methods to prepare for the competition. The America's Cup starts today.