The city celebrates the first anniversary of its designation as headquarters
BARCELONA, 28 Mar. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The city of Barcelona, and its port and coastal area, is in full transformation to be able to host the 37th America’s Cup in 2024, although the different boats will land in the city this summer and the training sessions and regattas will begin to open their mouths, as well as the adequacy of Port Vell and Port Olímpic to accommodate the headquarters of the teams.
Barcelona celebrated this Tuesday, March 28, the first anniversary of its designation as the venue for the 37th edition of the Copa de la América -its real name, in honor of the schooner America that won the trophy for the first time in 1851-, which It will be held from August to October 2024.
A year in which work began on the transformation of the Port Vell and Port Olímpic areas with the aim of making them ready to host the participating teams, who are already building their bases and will settle in the city from of this summer.
In the entire area of Port Vell, the works are taking place as the construction of the bases of the teams progresses at a good pace. For the participating syndicates, winter training has been intense: launching new boats, materializing new design ideas and perfecting sailing techniques thanks to long hours spent on the water.
The executive director of this 37th America’s Cup, Grant Dalton, agreed with the response from the city of Barcelona. “It has been an honor to work with all the organizations in Barcelona, Catalonia and Spain to return the 37th America’s Cup to such a vibrant European venue. A year later, we are really making progress in all aspects of the organization of the event”, he valued.
“It’s exciting to see all the teams already working at a very high level as they test and evaluate their training rigs before building their new AC75 for the 2024 competition,” said the skipper of Team New Zealand, the defending boat and regatta organizer
Dalton revealed some of the plans for his team, Emirates Team New Zealand, and the sports structure that will be installed in the Catalan capital in the coming months. “From the month of July, we will be sailing in Barcelona, like the rest of the teams”, he recalled.
The defending team of the trophy, in charge of the design and organization of the next edition through the subsidiary of America’s Cup Event, ACE Barcelona, has among its most important challenges that of involving the public, as happened with the 1992 Olympic Games , with the regatta.
“We want the public to get to know the America’s Cup, to get involved and to come to the seafront. We will launch an educational process so that they can learn about the competition and what it means for the city, for Catalonia and for Spain,” he said.
The next 18 months will be a period of intense development for all the teams, who will confirm their designs and start building the boats that will compete in the 37th America’s Cup in Barcelona.
This summer, the Barcelona coastline will be filled with action with the teams’ training sessions, while Port Vell and Port Olímpic will continue their transformation with the construction of new bases, and sailors and land teams from all over the world will disembark in Barcelona.