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© Harry K-H:Land Rover BAR
Nick Hutton
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© Harry K-H:Land Rover BAR
Land Rover BAR R1 testing day Bermuda
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© Harry K-H:Land Rover BAR
Land Rover BAR R1 testing day Bermuda
“Incoming!” The Land Rover BAR America’s Cup Class Race boat rounds the mark and heads straight towards us. It’s late March in Bermuda and we’re out on the water, watching the practice racing ahead of the America’s Cup proper in May.
“I think we’re just supposed to stay where we are and not move,” says our driver, Rich.
“Are you sure?” I say, my voice quavering – right now, not moving seems the worst idea anyone’s ever had.
“Reasonably confident.”
Reasonably? That doesn’t really cut it at this precise moment – I might accept ‘very’ but anything with less certainty just isn’t doing it for me. There’s no messing with these enormous and lightening fast catamarans – get in the way of one of the carbon foil boards that push these beasts out of the water and you’ve breathed your last. Bobbing about in the water on our lovely little rib with its swanky red leather seats, clutching our iPhones (but a bit too rigid with fear to capture the ultimate photo) we don’t stand a chance. In this instant, we really are Bermuda’s answer to the perfect gaggle of Grockles..
Fortunately at the last minute, the boat comes out of the gybe (that’s the turn across a following wind by the way – and about as far as my own sailing vocabulary goes) and continues into a bear away (that’s – I’m reliably informed – where the helm steers the boat away from the breeze) and – relief! – it would seem that this time, we’re in the clear.
Whether this bear away was always part of the plan, or whether it became part of the plan in order to avoid wiping out the group of idiots, in the apparently motionless little craft, remains a matter for debate. Still, sail past they did and amidst our cheers for the boys, was a prayer to the Big Man and a unanimous decision that whilst close ups are fantastic, that’s what long lenses are for and perhaps we’d better go and watch the rest of the race alongside the other boats, floating sensibly around the edge of the race track.
The practice race window is a new phenomenon; in previous Cups, the challengers and defender were never officially permitted to line up in order to test their metal before the event itself and so this has proved an exciting aspect of the 35th competition. It gives the teams a chance to benchmark themselves more accurately and if you’re way off the pace, an opportunity to make some fundamental changes design-wise before the racing begins at the end of May. Ultimately, the closer the racing, the more of a spectator sport sailing becomes and we’re all in favour of that.
Oracle Team USA (the defender – current holders of the America’s Cup), Artemis Racing (Swedish challenger), SoftBank Team Japan (Japanese challenger), Groupama Team France (French challenger) and our boys – Land Rover BAR (British challenger headed up by Sir Ben Ainslie) were all amongst those out on the water and match-racing over the past few days. With everyone experiencing ups and downs – including Team Japan taking themselves out of the action entirely on one day after a collision with a turtle – it’s been an eventful week and we can only expect more once the fleet is complete and things kick off in earnest. The remaining absentee at this stage is Emirates Team New Zealand, who have recently caused controversy by introducing bikes on their boat – in the place of the normal grinding stations, which rely on arm power for moving the hydraulics – and we’re all waiting on tenterhooks to see whether their arrival in April will cause any shake up in the ranks.
For the Brits it’s been a steep learning curve adjusting from the vigorous waters of the Solent, to the smoother currents that Bermuda has to offer and the practice window was no exception; so our guys will be amongst those quite literally taking a few things back to the drawing board after a few defeats on the water this time around. On the positive side however, no breakages taking us out of the action and on the manoeuvre and tactic front, we remain like a well oiled machine, just a case of keeping the muscles behind the machine fed, watered, rested and familiar with the task in hand.
With this in mind, Nick (one such set of muscles and my husband, hero (sometimes) and part time sharer of responsibility for our son) has come home for the past two nights carrying a briefcase containing what can only be described as an instrument of torture. He picks up the phone and calls Ben Williams – we’ve met him previously, Team Strength and Conditioning Coach, and this evening it would seem that ‘conditioning’ is on the menu. Ben appears and proceeds to wire Nick up to the black box that is revealed from the briefcase – little sticky patches all over his back so that he looks like Dr Jekyll’s experiment. “Give it 22 minutes mate and then adjust it to ‘pulse’,” Coach says and leaves us to it. Nick lies on his back and every ten seconds or so convulses so that the bed shakes beneath and he grunts. Apparently this is Ben’s idea of a massage and it’s not that appealing. I put my ear plugs in and observe that if he doesn’t mind, I will be sticking to the Hotel Spa.
After what the locals are citing as the worst winter in recent years (flipping typical!) Bermuda is heading into spring and starting to shine. Things are opening up ready for the season and we’ve just about switched from trousers to shorts as the standard outfit for a morning. The hotel where we’re living is getting busier and it won’t be long I’m sure until I’ll have to be dropping a towel on a lounger on my way to breakfast in the morning.
To mark the close of the race window, we had a team pizza party at Bar 1609 (one of the restaurants in the Hotel where we’re living). Apparently this is the place to go for a sun-downer in high season, boasting, as it does, a great view West out over the Hamilton Sound. “1609” I learn, because that’s when the first settlers arrived on Bermuda, having more successfully navigated the reefs around the island than those that tried before them. Shipwrecks litter the coastline here and afford for some pretty spectacular dive sites.
Anyway, I digress. We were the restaurant’s trial run for the summer pizza night, ahead of its official opening next month. The pizza was fine (Rome would be ashamed, Pizza Hut proud), the wine was good (any free wine is good) and Georgie Ainslie had kindly organised face-painting and a magician for the kids. The latter was a spectacle in himself – literally larger than life, he managed to get himself wedged in one of the chairs on arrival and no magic whatsoever, it would seem, could release him fast enough. The kids, apparently less concerned by this initial muggle blunder than us adults, were soon his captive audience however, once he began to showcase his balloon animal making skills. He also shot up in my estimation – love a balloon animal, poor Rafa didn’t get a look in with the fish we took home; placed well beyond popping distance.
So the countdown is on here and the next time I write it will all be over and hopefully with good news to report. The racing is shaping up to be a fantastic experience – although the race village itself still looks very much like a building site; but all you need’s a few big TV screens, a mic and a place selling decent coffee and Nyetimber right? Maybe a portaloo or two wouldn’t go amiss.
There’s one thing you can count on however and that is that there will be no stray ribs causing havoc in the arena once the real racing begins. Well, not on my account anyway.
Racing starts on May 26th in the Louis Vuitton America’s Cup Qualifiers , with the Cup finals starting on June 17th. You can catch all the action on BT Sport and also online/Facebook etc. – search for “Land Rover BAR” and “America’s Cup 2017”.
First published By The Dart magazine May 2017