Cross the sea

I can tell that sailing is not what most Charlton fans want to read about on these pages, and I probably never thought I’d be writing about it, but I live on an island and sailing and boats are part and parcel of life in Bermuda, which is why it has been gripped by America’s Cup fever.

I once long ago did a couple of days of Cowes week, which did involve a bit of tacking and luffing, and also with mates we skippered for a few consecutive years a long boat on various canals. But mostly me and boats involve sitting in the sun with my feet dangling over the side holding a cold beer. No more, no less.

I never much understood the workings of a boat, nor had any interest in owning one, always, perhaps a little bit blatently, selecting friends who had a boat. I want to get on and I want to get off. No barnacle scraping, no hosing down, no looking under the bonnet, or whatever it is called on a boat.

However I’ve found myself understanding more and more these last few weeks as five teams descended onto Bermuda to challenge the America’s Cup holders, Team Oracle, who a couple of years ago made Bermuda their home base for this, the 35th running of one of the world’s oldest sporting competitions.

I also found out how important the weather is. Not enough wind, too much wind, and of course yesterday after 6 weeks of no rain, America’s Cup opening day was cancelled due to anticipated thunder storms and strong winds gusting to 30 knots, which didn’t actually happen in the end but a decision was made to scrub the day and move it to today, which is good because I also had tickets for today, and the weather looks a beaut.