Countdown

Less than a week until the 35th Americas Cup kicks sails off in Bermuda. In the last week the six teams have been practicing hard out on the Great Sound, against each other and solo.

The experts continue to extol Team Oracle and SoftBank Team Japan’s chances and bash Ben Ainslie’s Land Rover BAR and the apparent hapless Groupama Team France. During the middle of last week the British Olympian collided into the back of the Emirates Team New Zealand causing damage to both boats not pleasing Kiwi helmsman Peter Burling, which led to an online spat.

“We had the leeward end of the line pretty locked down, Ben was quite late and just ran straight into the back of us,” said Burling. “Just unnecessary a week out from the America’s Cup. We are all here to learn and it’s a shame we have a pretty big dent now in the back of our nice boat.” The 45 foot long boats are valued at a cool $10m each.

It’s all double schooners to me, but anyway the island is awash with excitement and the big electronic clock in Hamilton’s Front Street continues to count down towards opening day next Friday. Last Friday we were out on the water and got close to the preparations, and with the smell of fresh paint in the air, the 9-acre Village is coming together nicely.

The AC Village is a 9-acre land-filled site at Cross Island and, I would think exaggerated, the anticipated 11,000 daily visitors are able to pick from a range of viewing galleries to watch the action on the water and probably easier, on huge screens. There will also be a kids zone, merchandise shops, food vendors, bars, a media centre and live stages. Someone even told me that the cool looking Club AC was originally used at the Rio Olympics, and was brought piecemeal to here.

On every other day, the racing will be in mid-afternoon to capture the widest TV audience possible but on opening day racing is later to roll into the Americas Cup Village party, which will include local acts, Red Bull skydivers, fireworks and a never ending stream of rum swizzles.

Americas Cup holders Team Oracle and skipper Jimmy Spithill face Franck Cammas and Groupama Team France in Friday’s opening race and I will be out on the water to watch the biggest ever sporting event that Bermuda has seen.