The south of England was the setting for the regatta which, then still unknowingly, would be the origin of what is now the oldest international competition in the world. It was in 1851, when the New York Yacht Club received an invitation to participate in some regattas in Cowes, framed within the Great Exhibition of London. The New Yorkers brought their boat there, a schooner named America and expressly designed to win that competition. And so it did: the America took the cup known as the Hundred Guineas Cup to the United States. Since then, multiple teams with the British flag have tried to return it to its place of origin. They have not yet succeeded, but Ineos Britannia is focused on things changing in this edition.
To do this, the team works at a frantic pace at its base in Port Vell. Located a few meters from the America's Cup Experience dissemination center that has temporarily brought the old Imax building back to life, the base has become for a year and a half the workplace of some 140 people, who make up a well-structured team in which the elimination phase brings out the tension. "There is some nervousness, but we all have a lot of experience and have been in situations like this before; the tension is noticeable and rises, but we all have enough experience to control our nerves," guarantees team coach Xabi Fernández.
The team brought its experience to Barcelona, and also its customs: the British schedule prevails at the base despite the climate and the Mediterranean rhythm of the Catalan capital. The base wakes up early, and by about seven in the morning it already begins to have activity. When the sailors arrive at the base, the simulator is already waiting for them: they start the day with a session of about an hour that reproduces the same weather conditions that they will find in the water that day. "This way, the sailors get in the groove," explains Fernández, also an Olympic medalist. Afterwards, a healthy breakfast, it is the turn of meetings on strategy and tactics, as well as reviewing the points with which more performance can be obtained from the boat, also depending on the team with which they have to compete.
The meetings take place in the sailing team room, next to the main entrance and reception of the base, which also has a kitchen, dining room, a terrace that invites calm, and a large hangar where the AC75 boat rests and is prepared, entering and exiting the sea through a system of cranes. In a competition that is as much about sport as it is about engineering, an extensive office accommodates the nearly 60 professionals of the design team. To shape their projects, the base has workshops for hydraulics, electronics, mold and parts manufacturing, and six powerful sewing machines to work on and modify the sails. The sports part also has its specific facilities at the base: a well-equipped gym and the simulator form the basis of the sailors' training. That, and the sea, of course.
And it is that, after eating early, maintaining that British schedule, the team goes out on the water in sessions that last several hours, either to train or to compete in the elimination races that started last week. The characteristics of Barcelona's wind and waves play in favor of the teams here: the most favorable time of day is usually shortly after noon —in fact, the races are always scheduled for two o'clock—. "In other editions, the races have been at 11 in the morning, and it leaves you without enough time to prepare yourself on the same day. With this schedule, there is more margin and you can be more productive," explains Fernández.
And the day does not end after the races, far from it: although the sailors finish earlier and prioritize a necessary rest, other members of the team still have a long day ahead. This is also the case for Fernández, who trains the team alongside Rob Wilson. After the session at sea, it's time to analyze it, also through the information collected by the boats themselves: "No matter how much data the boat collects, it's useless if you don't analyze it later." The design team also continues working at the base so that all the information is analyzed by the next morning, and other team members are responsible for ensuring that the boat is ready for its next use. "The base is not open 24 hours, but almost."
Returning home after the workday, whenever it ends, is easy. Most of the team members reside in Poblenou in several blocks of buildings, some with their entire families, and move around by bike, motorcycle, Metro, and bus. "Everyone is very comfortable in Barcelona, both for the sailing and for the lifestyle": closer to the United Kingdom than when editions have been held in distant New Zealand, and with English-speaking international schools for their children.
Fernández likes being in the city for another reason: the proximity of San Sebastián, where the sailor and now coach is from. After being crowned an Olympic medalist and completing six round-the-world races, Fernández participated in his first America's Cup in 2012, then with the Italian team, before moving to the British team in 2015. Now, Fernández assures that he would like the competition to be held again in the Catalan capital, in case the British do not manage to take it back to the United Kingdom. "We will see what happens; now we have to focus on the immediate goals, and the main goal now is not to make mistakes: we must not forget that in a few days a team will go home."