Around the world, teams are assembling with sailors jetting in from foreign climes, shore teams getting re-acquainted and communications going into overdrive. The race for the 37th America’s Cup, in beautiful Barcelona, is well and truly underway and this week saw no less than four teams on the water with Alinghi Red Bull Racing continuing its training in Barcelona, Emirates Team New Zealand proceeding with commissioning the world’s first AC40 in Auckland, New York Yacht Club American Magic taking Patriot, their AC75, for its first sail since AC36 and the exciting launch of Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli’s LEQ12 in Cagliari.
In the America’s Cup, the longest contested international sporting trophy, they say that: ‘the days are long but the years are short’ and with less than two years to go until the start of the challenger series that will decide the boat that will race against Emirates Team New Zealand for the famous silver ewer, currently held by the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron, preparations are beginning in earnest. Design teams are now at full capacity with data being gathered, super computers at the max and decisions that they make in the coming months being critical to the success of their teams in 2024. Pretty soon, boat-builders in the country of origin of each challenger, will be laying the foundations for the build of each syndicate’s sole AC75 that they will use to compete in the 37th America’s Cup.
Meanwhile at McConaghy’s in China and at the Emirates Team New Zealand North Shore facility in Auckland, work continues around the clock to deliver the hulls, foils and systems for the world’s most exciting new class – the AC40 – that will be used in the Youth and Women’s America’s Cup as well as becoming custom testing platforms for the AC teams as they trial new ideas and theories to get an edge in what looks like being the closest America’s Cup in history.
Preparations in Barcelona are well advanced with the bases allocated and design work continuing by all the teams to create immersive, inclusive, engaging sites to capture public attention whilst retaining the form and function to house the teams as they prepare for the racing. America’s Cup Events Limited is working closely with the Port of Barcelona Authority and local government to deliver the most outstanding and spectacular America’s Cup in the long history of the event that stretches back to 1851 and the very first Cup in European waters. With racing scheduled through September and October 2024, the clock is ticking. The teams are forming. The venue is preparing. The anticipation is building. The tension is palpable.