America’s Cup Countdown

By The Dart contributor, Philippa Hutton, has recently moved to Bermuda, where she has joined her husband Nick (former resident of Kingswear) who is part of Sir Ben Ainslie’s Land Rover BAR team campaigning to win the 2017 America’s Cup.

Over the coming months, Philippa will be providing By The Dart readers with an ‘exclusive’  behind the scenes glimpse into the lead up to and the event itself.

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On the 1st of December, my husband Nick, our one year old son, Rafa and I left our lovely house in the South Hams, to catch a flight to Bermuda – the host venue for the 35th America’s Cup and our new home for the next eight months. Nick, who grew up in Kingswear and learned to sail at the Royal Dart Yacht Club, has spent the last two years training in Portsmouth as part of Sir Ben Ainslie’s Land Rover BAR crew, ahead of the Team’s challenge for this, the oldest trophy in international sport.

It’s a huge logistical challenge, relocating a sailing base and all the families that go with it anywhere, let alone to the middle of the Atlantic Ocean and it’s been years in the planning. We loaded our personal effects – including six months’ worth of nappies; $20 per small bag over here - so a definite priority, along with a potty – into a container in October and our boxes were waiting for us at our new pad, the Hamilton Princess Hotel, when we arrived pre-Christmas.

Hotel-living has its benefits (two brand new infinity pools and a buffet breakfast to die for not least) but also its challenges (you try entertaining a toddler in two rooms, for three days, when there’s a tropical storm raging outside…) but we are gradually adjusting to some sort of routine and feeling remarkably ‘local’ already – even giving directions and advice to the regular hotel guests. The island itself is beautiful, with virtually empty beaches so far because Bermuda does not have Caribbean wall to wall sunshine all year round; in fact it is renowned for being capable of producing four seasons in one day. I’ve been caught more than once heading out in shorts and a vest top, to return soaking and shivering a few hours later.

Nick and the Team meanwhile are working hard and it’s certainly no holiday for them. Putting in six day weeks, they are up at 6.15am to catch a rib to the base – at Dockyard, alongside SoftBank Team Japan (another new challenger this time around) and Oracle Team USA (the current holders of the Cup). The boys train twice a day in the Team gym – one pre-breakfast (sometimes ‘fasting’, which makes Nick hugely grumpy in the morning….he likes his food) and one after the day of sailing/design meetings depending on what the weather’s up to.

The Team’s Lead Strength and Conditioning Coach, Ben Williams, is constantly monitoring the boys’ physical condition because sailing these cutting-edge, foiling catamarans is no walk in the park. Nick can easily burn 4,000 calories on a morning’s sail. Last night in fact, he showed me an email which said that we’d sorted the issue with his iron levels but now he needs to cut back slightly on the amount of whole milk and eggs he’s consuming. Milk is $6 for 4 pints in the local supermarket here and so I was – needless to say – thrilled by this news. “Pricey” does not do Bermuda justice, try “daylight robbery” and you’re nearly there. According to a recent newspaper article, Hamilton is the most expensive city in the world to live, closely followed by San Francisco, where coincidentally, we were for the last Cup. Sensing a theme here? I am; and it’s not good for the bank balance.

As far as the sailing itself goes, the countdown to the Cup is on. The Team is out on the water in T3 (test boat three) whenever the breeze permits, getting used to the wind, the race track and fine tuning their moves. As I write this, they’re about to head into a period of practice racing against some of the other competitors, before officially launching the new race boat in early February.

The hype on the island around the Cup is mind-blowing – America’s Cup t-shirts are already on display in the shop windows and the logo emblazoned on many of the office buildings. Come May,  when the warm weather should be here to stay and the racing kicks off in earnest, you get the sense that we’re in for a bit of a frenzy; the hotels are filling up, anyone with a rib or dock is gearing up to rent it out to hardcore sailing fans and all eyes will be on Bermuda.

As wives, we’re so proud of our boys to have done so well thus far and be heading into the Cup with two points on the other teams (having won the Louis Vuitton America’s Cup World Series – warm up event running around the globe over the past 18 months in slightly smaller, one design, cats) and can’t wait to cheer them on in the summer. Watch this space for more inside news on the British campaign and goings on in Bermuda in the next issue. #Bringthecuphome

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First published By the Dart March 2017