With just over two months to go before Barcelona becomes the global capital of nautical sports thanks to the 37th edition of the Louis Vuitton America’s Cup, the presence of the world’s most important regatta in the Catalan capital is felt more and more each day. Following the launch of the new AC75s from the five Challengers, who are already sailing the waters of the Front Marítim, the city is buzzing with excitement.
The upcoming arrival of the Defender, Emirates Team New Zealand with their brand-new AC75 Taihoro, and the arrival of the ‘Auld Mug’ in Catalonia, the 173 year-old silver ewer around which the world’s oldest sporting event revolves, will mark the anticipated moment when, after more than two years since Barcelona was designated as the host of the Louis Vuitton 37th America’s Cup, all the essential elements for its celebration will be in place.
In keeping with its commitment to bringing the 173-old history of the event closer to the public, the organising entity, America’s Cup Event, in collaboration with the Generalitat de Catalunya and the local yacht clubs have scheduled an exhibition tour of the America’s Cup, originally the ‘RYS £100 Cup’ along the Catalan coast.
For America’s Cup Event CEO Grant Dalton taking one of the world’s oldest and most iconic trophies on the road and to the yacht clubs plays a fundamental role in educating and inspiring the next generation of sailors.
“The America’s Cup is the pinnacle event in sailing worldwide, and the 37th edition of the event is being held on the doorstep of the people of Catalonia, so being able to take this iconic trophy to the yacht clubs is really special.”
Between June 25th and July 1st , the official Trophy Tour of the Louis Vuitton 37th America’s Cup will stop at seven Catalan clubs starting in L’Escala on Tuesday, June 25th, and each club will arrange for on-water and off water events including at L’Escala a showcase of disabled sailing, as well as various training regattas in the Optimist and Laser classes inspired by the America’s Cup.
The planned route for the famous silver ewer will see it make stops at the ports and yacht clubs of Palamós, Vilassar de Mar, Sitges, Tarragona, and Cambrils, before its final journey to Barcelona on July 1st 2024, where it will be displayed alongside the other three trophies of the official regattas of the Louis Vuitton 37th America’s Cup: the Puig Women’s America’s Cup, the UniCredit Youth America’s Cup and the Louis Vuitton Cup.
As the America’s Cup makes its journey, the Presidents of the clubs will officially welcome the trophy and representatives of America’s Cup Events, alongside Mayors of the town and the surrounding areas. Presentations around the key facts of the Louis Vuitton 37th America’s Cup and its unique features including the UniCredit Youth America’s Cup and the inaugural Puig Women’s America’s Cup will be made.
At each destination there will be an information area, made up of four zones, where the public can enjoy a free immersive experience and emulate the best sailors in the world at the controls of a simulator, while learning about the history and other key aspects of the competition such as the roles within the crews, the specifications and technology of the AC75, or the celebration of the first women’s regatta in history, the Puig Women’s America’s Cup and the regatta for young sailors (18-25) – the UniCredit Youth America’s Cup.
With the lighthouses, beaches and cliffs of the Catalan coastline as a canvas, and the fast patter of the dockside fish auctioneers as the soundtrack, the visit of the oldest trophy in the world will be a recognition of the seafaring towns and villages of Catalonia, which will be especially decorated to welcome the America’s Cup trophy in a cultural exchange that will have the sea and its people as the main protagonist.
Local gastronomy will also play a prominent role in the America’s Cup Trophy Tour on the occasion of the designation of Catalonia as the first territory in Europe to be distinguished as a World Region of Gastronomy for the year 2025. This is a recognition of the dedication of these territories in favour of traditions, landscape, culture and history, maintaining and promoting the seafaring vision that makes them unique.
37TH LOUIS VUITTON AMERICA’S CUP TROPHY TOUR:
- June 25: L’Escala
- June 26: Palamós
- June 27: Vilassar de Mar
- June 28: Sitges
- June 29: Tarragona
- June 30: Cambrils
- July 1: Barcelona
HISTORY OF THE AMERICA’S CUP
The America’s Cup is one of the oldest and most prestigious trophies in the world of sport. Initially known as the ‘RYS £100 Cup’, it was designed and crafted in 1848 by Edmund Cotterill of the appointed Royal silversmiths, Messrs. R&S Garrard of Panton Street, London.
Having bought the trophy on spec in 1848, its first owner the Marquess of Anglesey, donated it to the Royal Yacht Squadron in Cowes, England, for a race around the Isle of Wight held at the same time as Prince Albert’s Great Exhibition of 1851. The purpose of such a prize was originally to attract international participation, particularly from the United States and indeed Russia, in the regatta.
Unlike traditional cups, the silver ewer was designed as a cylindrical silver vessel, open at both ends and incapable of holding liquids, standing 27 inches tall (approximately 69 cm), with a body circumference of 36 inches (approximately 91 cm), a base of 24 inches (approximately 61 cm), and a weight of 134 ounces (approximately 3.8 kg).
After the schooner America’s victory in the first race on August 22nd 1851—which prompted the famous “Ma’am, there is no second” from Queen Victoria’s signal-master on the Royal yacht Victoria & Albert —the Cup was awarded to the six syndicate owners of the yacht America, who proudly took it back to New York. They exhibited it in rotation at various celebratory dinners, the most famous being at the Astor House Hotel in 1851.
Fortunately, after discarding the idea of melting it down to create commemorative medals, in 1857, George Schuyler one of the surviving members of the America syndicate renamed the trophy as the America’s Cup before transferring its custody to the New York Yacht Club as “a perpetual challenge cup for friendly competition between nations” under a strict set of conditions established in the Deed of Gift of the America’s Cup. This marked the beginning of the thirty-seven subsequent editions of a unique event that encapsulates the spirit of competition.
