A space to come together
Every small community needs to have its own Agora and, for Alinghi Red Bull Racing, this place is without a doubt the top floor lounge at the team base. It’s an area where athletes, sailors, partners, invited guests, media and more come together every day to meet and engage - with the 37th America’s Cup very much the hot topic of conversation. We sat down with head of hospitality Anna Bratina to talk about the Alinghi Red Bull Racing lounge as a central meeting place at the team base.
Anna, tell us a bit about the vision for this top floor lounge?
It was very important for the concept of our base that we had a space for members of our team to meet and to share with our partners -- a place we could enjoy together and make available to sponsors and those supporting our campaign. In our provisional base, we were spread out. It was of utmost importance to us to be under one roof and have a central gathering place. Other uses for the space include meetings, presentations or just a place to grab a coffee, talk and take in the view of the port.
So it’s really about this idea of mixing team members and those connected with the team?
Yes, what we like is that invited guests can come to the Hospitality Lounge and during the visit they can live a bit of our America’s Cup and our daily routine. For example, if a partner wants to come and have lunch here, much of the team members will also be having lunch around them. Then they can go out on the terrace and watch the boat dock-out. We also made it a priority to have families be able to visit (children can come on ‘Family Fridays’) and it’s about this interaction between the team and friends.
The dock-out must be a popular event to watch from the lounge?
Yes, it’s a very privileged view up here. That way they can see the boat come out of the shed and follow the team members preparing for training out on the water. A lot of guests who might be new to sailing often think it’s a very quick process but preparing the boat is in fact quite a complicated operation and interesting to watch. It provides you a window “inside” the team. Then, of course, when the boat returns there is another show.
That must be a great show, too?
When the boat comes back, it’s amazing for guests to watch. It’s hauled out by crane and placed almost at terrace level. Then you can see the foils and the boat flying in the air. It’s a very cool sight, as well. We’ve had some partners just come to watch the boat operations even without any official events or meetings here.
It must have been a busy first few months as the team base is still quite new?
Since mid-July, when we first entered the base, we have been very busy! We wanted to be ready for the Preliminary Regatta in Vilanova, and then for the Official Base Opening. Following that we had the Opening Day during La Mercè and since last September, we have not stopped. Many of our sponsors and partners have already celebrated events, given presentations and made visits. We’re proud of the space we’ve created and it’s encouraging and motivating to see how many people are enjoying our Lounge!
