The America’s Cup is here and promises to be quite an experience
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The 37th edition of the America’s Cup will be held between August and November 2024, although the boats have already been spotted between 14 and 17 September 2023 in a preliminary regatta in Vilanova i la Geltrú (Barcelona). In any case, the organisation is warming up its engines, and as with all big events – and the America’s Cup is going to be huge!!! – the main challenge is the management of the thousands of people who will come to watch the event.
For those who want to watch from shore, there will be a number of different areas in and around the Port Vell, including the Race Village, the fan zones, the viewing areas and the Olympic Port. The Race Village will be open to the public from 12 noon until 10 or 11pm, depending on the day and the activities programmed. Access is free and open to the public, but with limited capacity. The main stage and giant screens will be installed here, where the regattas will be projected, and where there will be different activities, exhibitions and a gastronomic area.
To have a direct view of the sea and the regatta area, two fan zones will be set up: one in the Plaça del Mar and the other on Bogatell beach, both with free access from 12 noon onwards. There will also be giant screens to follow the regattas, as well as exhibitions, various gastronomic options and entertainment. From the Plaça de la Rosa dels Vents you can watch the teams enter and leave the port, although the Olympic Port, the beaches of Sant Miquel, Barceloneta and Somorrostro are also places to watch the regattas.
And, of course, you can watch from the sea, in areas set aside for yachts and other boats around the racing limit, as long as they are 5m or more in length.
Organise in advance, you have resources from which to experience the America’s Cup with your guests
But having said that, we cannot forget that more than two and a half million visitors are expected, plus the locals who will want to take part in what is possibly the biggest sporting event in Barcelona since the 1992 Olympic Games.
In this sense it is important to consider a series of spaces for events on the seafront that are a unique opportunity to create a meeting around the sailing cup, whether as another experience within an event, the excuse to create the event itself, or a purely hospitality action.
A space created especially for the event is the America’s Cup Experience, which can be hired for events – of course also during the months of the competition – and can be fully immersed in the atmosphere of the Cup in a space full of technology around the world of the sailing competition, offering a 40-minute tour of immersive experiences and virtual reality. With a capacity for 1,000 people, it has two gastronomic spaces by chefs Albert Ventura and Jordi Vilà, and a terrace with views of the marina, among many other possibilities for events.
Of course, there are the Port spaces, such as Marina Port Vell Barcelona, in the heart of the competition due to its unbeatable location in this case, very close to the race course, next to the Race Village, the base of the Ineos Britania Team, with views of the America’s Cup Experience and the Swiss team Alinghi. It has various facilities and spaces that combine sport and exclusivity, so the experience of living the America’s Cup with your guests can be a great one.
And Barcelona’s Port Olimpic, a venue with a wide variety of indoor and outdoor spaces, such as an assembly hall with capacity for 150 people, and a multi-purpose room with views of the sea. What is also interesting about the Port Olimpic is that it combines business activity and nautical practice, creating an innovative and dynamic environment based on sustainability and the blue economy.
For its part, Club Natació Barcelona has created the CNB Corporate Village to enjoy the America’s Cup in a different way. The Club has several spaces with frontline views of the regatta course where events can be held while enjoying the competition. They also offer to complete the experience with your own sports days, with daily passes to access their facilities.
The Business Yacht Club Barcelona, with the largest private fleet of yachts in Barcelona, also offers the possibility of organising a regatta between yachts on the America’s Cup course. This teambuilding regatta, with capacity for 400 people, is a very unique way of experiencing the competition in the same format but actively participating as part of a crew with a professional skipper on board. Another option if you prefer to experience the Cup from the sea is to go on private outings with your group with a skipper to attend the competitions from the regatta course itself.
