The America’s Cup of Sailing brings together so much epic, adventure, ins and outs and anecdotes that it has been the subject of books, documentaries and films, such as The Force of the Wind (1992), a film produced by Francis Ford Coppola and based on what happened in the 25th and 25th editions. 26 of the competition.
Now a podcast tells in Catalan the history of the oldest competition in the world, which dates back to 1851, when the British Empire organized a regatta around the Isle of Wight to showcase the supremacy of its very powerful English navy. The surprise was that the America, a schooner of the New York Yacht Club that had also crossed the Atlantic shortly before, defeated the English ships in the presence of Queen Victoria. This is what journalist Nacho Gómez-Zarzuela tells it, with more than two decades of experience in the sailing and nautical sector, and creator of the program El Role.
The 23 episodes of the podcast, most lasting between 10 and 12 minutes, are available on Spotify and YouTube. All of them allow us to learn about the history in an entertaining way, for the enjoyment of the already adepts and the curiosity of the hitherto non-followers of this sport, which entails a high degree of romanticism, starting with the 100 Guineas jug, the original trophy. which the current champion (or defender) keeps only until another team manages to take it from him.
“We make a clear commitment to dissemination, and through this initiative we want to bring one of the best-known competitions in the world of sailing closer to the general public”explains the Barcelona Capital Nàutica Foundation, promoter of the series.
The chapters bring to the entire public the names that have starred in the competition and have made history; and the motivations of his patrons, starting with Thomas Lipton, of the teas; the Baron de Bich, the one with the pens; or the television Ted Turner, the last amateur skipper who won the Copa América. And also the high degree of innovation and technology – and espionage – that marks the competition, in which the races have evolved to reach 50 knots, almost 100 kilometers per hour.
Gómez-Zarzuela passionately narrates episodes such as the feat carried out by Oracle in 2013, which changed tactics in the sixth race, winning before the stunned faces of Team New Zealand and the entire public, in an epic comeback for 9 races to 8 to keep the Cup. The journalist focuses especially on the celebration of the first edition of the Copa América de Vela in Valencia and explains how the competition has finally arrived in Barcelona thanks to the Kiwis.