Bermuda | Chicago Addick

Sep 7

Birthday week

A couple of weeks back was my birthday. I’m not big on birthday’s, especially those when I’m stuck at home, but the party-planning-other-half had an idea. Let’s make it a birthday week she said. Not focus on the one day but let’s make sure we get out of the house, do something together everyday, and find things we’ve never done in our time in Bermuda.

Taking a full week off work was not possible, and only sat at home eating cake and watching the TV was sure way to have me back in front of the laptop in no time, so doing something out each day was a good balance and it was like a collection of mini vacations.

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Aug 3

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Working from home

Day 140 working from home (not that I’m counting 😩).

Like most others I’d imagine, I left the office on that Monday in March pretty unprepared for a long working stint at home, I walked out of the office re-assuring the team that I’d see them soon and was armed with my trusted laptop and notepad.

I was temporarily perched on the couch those first two weeks with laptop on lap, but with the TV news on a loop it became apparent how deep and bad the pandemic was.

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Jul 30

Carry on camping

A national holiday in Bermuda today and tomorrow, as the island celebrate’s Cup Match, a cricket game between sides from the two ends of the island battling it out over two days to win de Cup.

For 118 years this battle of wits has occurred at this time of the year, never stopping for war or strife, but sadly like all the world’s major sporting events Bermuda Cup Match 2020 was cancelled.

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Jun 15

Not a time for heroes

A Bermuda national holiday today. Once the Queen’s Birthday holiday, in recent times the island took to celebrating local historical figures, and renamed it National Heroes Day. Although from what I can make out very few heroes have ever been named, which seems very strange to me. I have long given up by being bewildered by Bermuda’s idiosyncrasies though.

In recent years this weekend became the focal point of a growing Carnival scene, attempting to emulate those in other Caribbean countries. Bermuda’s efforts have been rewarded as numbers have grown consistently helped by more and more tourists. From memory the number of visitors for last last year’s carnival weekend topped 1,500.

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May 17

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A night they can never take away from us

For all the chaos and deceit and uncertainties, no one can ever take away from us the three play-off games from last season. A year ago tonight was that game at The Valley. We actually lost on the night, but we won memories and photos and videos and soulmates that will stay with us a lifetime.

It was a truly incredible night. Very Charlton of course, but unbelievable all the same.

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May 10

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Puppy love

I’ve always been pretty indifferent to pets, not overly worried either way. As a kid we had a cat, a dog (for a while), goldfish, budgerigars, probably a school gerbil, I can’t remember, but I never felt the need of fluffy company in adult life.

Yet, ever since my daughter learnt to speak a dog was always on the radar, with strong backing from the dog-loving-other-half I was always under pressure, and have done bloody well to hold out for, well about 9 years 😆🐶.

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Mar 25

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Coronavirus and Bermuda

The biggest adversity the world has seen in many a generation. I truly hope that you are all staying safe and healthy.

A crazy and worrying time, harrowing for some, as the Coronavirus or COVID-19 sweeps every little corner of our world taking no prisoners. A global pandemic, only previously in the deep imaginative minds of movie writers, scientists, historians and risk officers. Now part of all of us, every day, every minute.

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Jan 19

My 2019 Top Five Bermuda Things

Back on my doorstep then for my next 2019 Top Five. No Michelin stars, no movie premieres, no historical monuments, but local small scale stuff and fun things that peaked my interest.

To continue my January look back at my 2019, these are My Top Five Favourite Bermuda Things

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Dec 31

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Happy New Year

It’s hard to even fathom that 20 years ago today we were at work unsure as to whether the computers would even come back on after we came back from the new Millennia celebration. Millennials can look up that near calamity here.

2019 has flown by, work has been the busiest I have known it since I’ve been in Bermuda, the results have been bloody good though, but absolutely exhausting and it didn’t surprise me to just be told I have almost 4 weeks holiday left for the year.

My predilection for travelling has thus taken a backward seat this year, for which I’m very disappointed with myself. Good news though is that after years of attempting to renovate a house in Sarasota, Florida, which has veered from the tortuous to the exorbitant, it may finally become liveable so that is an exciting development and will be a home from home.

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Dec 25

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Frightful

Happy Christmas to you all.

We have spent many more years on the island than off it on Christmas Day and I don’t ever remember the weather being anything but clear, sunny and relatively warm. Yet this morning the weather outside is frightful, rain is crashing against the windows and the wind is howling. So, I’ve got the wood fire going, which is of course, quite delightful.

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Nov 4

More egg chasing

Fresh on the back of an enjoyable Japanese Rugby World Cup despite Saturday morning’s disappointment, rugby union comes to Bermuda this week in the guise of a World Cup for veterans.

The World Rugby Classic takes place throughout this week at the National Stadium. There’s always a chill in the air, and it signals the start of our winter, which is a relative term I know, but it’s a busy and fun week watching some of the world’s once-best players battle it out for both pride and the title of the world’s best veterans rugby nation.

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Nov 3

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Bermuda’s Portuguese honoured

A much needed day off tomorrow. Work has been intense and ceaseless all year and not having a proper holiday has bitten me on my waning arse. On Monday Bermuda closes for one of it’s more fanciful national holidays, but a very worthwhile one as it chooses to honour the Portuguese on the island celebrating 170 years of Portuguese culture.

The timing is, in typical Bermuda government fashion, a little random, but the Portuguese have given a lot to this little island, including making regular naval visits in the 1500’s before it was settled by the English in 1612.

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Nov 1

Get in the hole

Off to watch a bit golf today. Despite being in Bermuda for 11 years, and there being a higher concentration of golf courses here than anywhere else in the world I have yet to be bitten by the golf bug for all kinds of reasons.

Yet today just around the corner from my house the island has some PGA golf to watch as Bermuda gets an official PGA tournament taking place at the Port Royal Golf Course.

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Sep 24

Hurricane Humberto

Whilst I was in basking in the 100-degree Arizona heat. I was working I’d like to add, well apart from the Sedona road trip, my family and the island of Bermuda got badly rattled by Hurricane Humberto last Wednesday and Thursday. To show how completely unpredictable hurricanes can be as I left the island Tuesday morning it was coming in at a Cat One (95 mph max sustained winds), but by the time the little f***** got here it was blowing at 125 mph, close to a Cat Four, with gusts as much as 144 mph.

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Jun 26

Heads held high

Bermuda bowed out of the CONCACAF Gold Cup with their heads held high this week. They arrived for the first time in a big tournament jointly ranked as outsiders, with Guyana.

Yet, they left with praise ringing in their ears from many commentators and ex-footballers including Warren Barton who waxed lyrical over the island’s efforts on Fox Sports.

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Jun 17

Bermuda start Gold Cup with a defeat

Bermuda lost their opening game at the CONCACAF Gold Cup last night 2-1 to Haiti. Bermuda took the lead right on half time when captain Dante Leverock powered home a header from a corner.

It was a dream score at the break and until then the half had been pretty even with Bermuda trying to keep the ball and having much the better of the chances. Haiti came out stronger in the 2nd half and in the end their fitness and strength prevailed.

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May 28

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An unforgettable day

We’re on the way, we’re on the way….

Yesterday morning I woke bruised and weary. With a slight headache and a sense of bewilderment, but the red blood in my veins flowed like a gentle river.

Last night was another night of sweet dreams. I flew back to Bermuda yesterday and am back in the office today, and nothing, not nothing will take this massive smile off my face.

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Apr 26

Triathlon weekend

There have been a lot of very fit looking people mixing with many slightly larger cruise ship tourists walking around Hamilton these last few days. The antithesis is breathtaking, or out of breath depending on which one they were.

54 men and 47 women will take part in Saturday’s World Triathlon Series, the second in the season’s calendar. Last year was the first time Bermuda had been a host for the ITU’s World Series, and homecoming queen Flora Duffy swept to victory to much delight.

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Apr 23

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St George’s

Very appropriate that I spent today in St George’s, the oldest continuously-inhabited English town in the New World and settled 407 years ago, and three years after Admiral Sir George Somers deliberately beached the ship Sea Venture onto Bermuda’s reef’s to avoid sinking.

Now UNESCO World Heritage site, the town of St George has slowly started to come back to life, helped by regular cruise ship visits, and a couple of good eateries. There was no ship in today but many, and mostly Japanese, visitors were walking around the town’s narrow and colourful streets.

It has a way before it becomes as beautiful as somewhere like Cinque Terre, but the pastel coloured hilly streets still ask to be explored and much work is being carried out on many of the large homes such as Whitehall, for years occupied by the town’s mayors.

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Apr 21

Fishcakes

Happy Easter everyone.

After a couple of days of fish cakes and hot cross buns, I think I might move onto the chocolate today. Bermudians like the sweet and savoury, and at this time of year it is cod fish cakes tucked inside a warm hot cross bun, slathered in mayo (another Bermuda staple) with a sprinkle of hot sauce. Try one, they are quite moorish.

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Apr 11

The CONCACAF Gold Cup draw

Just when at work we were bemoaning the lack of summer football action, the Gold Cup arrived like the first summer wasp.

Bermuda qualified for their first ever major tournament recently by finishing in 5th place in this continent’s Nations League qualifying. The 5th place finish also secured Nations League action against the power house Mexicans and Panama later in the year.

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Mar 24

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Bermuda and Montserrat qualify for Gold Cup

Bermuda’s national football team (pop: 62,000) made history tonight by qualifying for the CONCACAF Gold Cup for the first time. It is the island’s first qualification for any major tournament.

Nakhi Wells led the Gombey Warriors, resplendent in their pink shorts and blue shorts, to a 3-1 victory in the Dominican Republic (pop: 10,785,000) and 20 places higher in the FIFA rankings. The win gave them a top 10 qualifying birth within the 34 team CONCACEF Nations League.

Wells, the most well known player in Bermuda’s ranks, scored the 2nd after Zeiko Lewis, who plays in the USA 2nd tier for Charleston Battery, equalized a very early Dom Rep opener. Justin Donawa (Columbus Crew) scored the crucial third from distance to make the game safe.

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Jan 20

My 2018 Top Five Favourite Bermuda Things

Next on my personal Top Five’s from 2018 are right here on my doorstep. Bermuda is not the place to come for big restaurant openings, star-studded theatre, cool music concerts, cutting edge art shows or world class museums, it’s so much simplier here. The outdoors, the beach, the ocean.

I gave it some thought and these are My Top Five Favourite Bermuda Things from last year:

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Dec 31

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Happy New Year

It’s late morning here in Orlando and ahead of a big night, which is all relative these days, I find myself yawning like a lion. Life would not be the same unless I wasn’t tired, although one horrible habit I’ve picked up as I’ve reached half a century is that of waking up in the middle of night, and not always to pee. Then the old noggin bursts into life and that’s that.

We celebrated our 10th year in Bermuda this past summer, which scares me more than anything, but there are still plenty of things to keep us here. Some more appreciated than others. Possibly the realization of how idyllic and halcyon this island is only hits home when I’m sat watching the world news which follows on from our own unremarkable village-type chronicles and see what kind of crazy shit happens elsewhere in the world.

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Nov 22

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Giving thanks

Whilst Americans are up early switching on ovens, plucking turkeys, shelling pecans and peeling pumpkins, I’ve arrived at my parents in East Sussex ready for a cup tea and a bourbon.

My company is of American descent, not quite as far back as the Pilgrims, but therefore we close the office tomorrow and today the place is as a quiet as a church full of mouses. So I’ve flown to London for a couple of days for a whirlwind whizz around to see family and mates. Maybe, perhaps, I might pop by SE7 on Saturday.

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Nov 17

Nahki Wells back with a bang

Bermuda caused a big upset last night by beating El Salvador 1-0 in a rain soaked National Stadium. Nahki Wells scored the 2nd half winner on his first appearance for his country in 3.5 years. El Salvador came into the CONCACAF Nations League Qualfying seeded 4 out of 34 countries and 110 places above Bermuda in the FIFA rankings.

The conditions were shocking but helped neutralize El Salvador’s technical superiority and after Wells, who is on loan at QPR from Burnley, headed in Reggie Lambe’s cross the Gombey Warriors hung on for a famous win.

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Oct 16

Nations League

International week has dragged although the newly hatched UEFA Nations League seems to have a lot more going for it than the pedestrian paced friendlies we used to have to endure.

Over in this part of the globe the CONCACAF region have also embraced the Nations League concept and have replaced friendlies with a tournament that will not only have a champion plus promotion and relegation through the small teamed groups, but will also determine who qualifies for the 2019 CONCACAF Gold Cup.

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Aug 5

Cup Match thrashing

Bermuda has just come off a four day weekend as the island celebrated Cup Match, a cricket match between what is considered the best players from the east (St Georges) and the island’s west end (Somerset). More officially the two day match is known on Thursday as Emancipation Day, marking the freedom of Bermuda’s slaves, and Friday is Somers Day, named in honour of Bermuda’s founder, Sir George. The second day was only granted a public holiday in 1999, 52 years after the Thursday was officially recognised – largely due to the massive popularity of the game and also the fact that no one actually showed up for work.

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Jun 24

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Besotted

Don’t know about you but I’m becoming besotted by this World Cup. So much to see and enjoy, and the noise and the colour in the stadiums brings back for me childhood memories of Mexico ‘86 and Italia ‘90. There’s been goals, not one 0-0 draw in 32 games, a desire to win games and not lose them, drama, excitement, shocks, VAR nonsense, good and bad and bloody England scored five first half goals. In one game.

Yes Panama played like a hungover Sunday league side but they did beat the might of Trumpy and the free world to make it to Russia, and we have hardly breezed by this standard of nation before in competitions.

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Jun 15

Do not disturb

The first proper day of the World Cup. The do not disturb sign is hanging around my neck.

As suspected the Bermuda TV coverage is worst than terrible. Not sure where they stole the pictures from, but sounds as if the commentator is doing it from his sofa, and there is no pre or post game punditry and the half-time show consists of crowd scenes interrupted by adverts from local companies who have each thrown in about a hundred bucks to ‘sponsor’ it. Please don’t let me hear you moan about Martin Keown and Glenn Hoddle..

Also, during the game the screen has no score or time on it, which is a very disconcerting and a nightmare if I need a wee. Who knows what the score is and how long is left, doubt if the commentator knows either.

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Apr 29

Flora wins on home soil

The weather held and although the sun didn’t shine on Flora Duffy the whole of Bermuda did as thousands lined Hamilton’s streets yesterday afternoon to witness just what a phenomenal athlete the Bermudian born triathlete is.

The World Triathlon Series (WTS) came to these shores for the first time and Bermuda excelled in hosting the event as two-time champion Duffy underlined her dominance by becoming the first woman in WTS history to win a race after being the leader in all three disciplines of swim, bike and run.

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Apr 27

Bermuda World Triathlon Series

Following the huge success of last summer’s America Cup, Bermuda became much more desirable as a destination for sporting events, particularly those that involve the water.

This weekend the World Triathlon Series comes to Bermuda, the first of three years that the Island will feature in the international calendar. Undoubtedly world number one Fiona Duffy was one of the driving forces behind the International Triathlon Union’s (ITU) decision to move their elite athlete showcase here. Other locations on the 6 month calendar include Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Yokohama, Hamburg and Nottingham with the finale back in Australia’s Gold Coast where Fiona Duffy just won Commonwealth gold.

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Apr 5

Bermuda wins first gold

I like the Commonwealth Games, it gives lesser nations and athletes a chance on a big stage. Bermuda has only ever won one medal at an Olympics, and five at a Commonwealth Games, the last being a bronze in ten-pin bowling in 1998. Luckily for the rest of the Commonwealth there isn’t a rum drinking contest, because they may have medalled in that as well.

Flora Duffy is the women’s world number one in triathlon, so it was no surprise that she won gold last night in the Gold Coast’s first medal final. She surprisingly missed out on a place at the last Olympics, but has emerged as the world’s best since winning the last two ITU world titles, and despite the weight of 63,000 Bermudians on her strong shoulders she romped home 43 seconds ahead of England’s Jessica Learmonth to claim gold.

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Feb 18

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Golden

The skeleton. Who an earth invented that? Superb from Lizzy Yarnold, who is from a family of Addicks, to claim back to back Olympic gold medals in the skeleton, basically lying on a metal tray with your nose an inch from a frozen downhill ravine travelling at 80 mph. How a girl from Sevenoaks picks that as a career I will never know.

Yarnold is brilliant in front of the camera. Inspirational, self-deprecating and funny, and the country smiled with her yesterday as she smashed the course record at the sliding centre at Pyeongchang to grab gold as teammate Laura Deas won bronze in what was the most successful day ever for GB at a Winter Olympics.

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Feb 14

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Olympic marvel

I’m enjoying the Winter Olympics and the shear youth and exhilaration of it all. Although I view summer Olympians with massive admiration and reverence, I truly marvel at these young men and women hurtling down mountain sides and iced tunnels at break neck speed.

Pyeongchang, which looks a pretty awe-inspiring location for the Games, is 13 hours ahead of Bermuda but between NBC and the Canadian Broadcasting Company (CBC) we are keeping up with events even if I’m never sure whether we are watching them in real time or on repeat.

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Jan 5

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My 2017 Top 5 Favourite Bermuda Things

Bermuda has been home for nine and half years which is scary in so many ways. One of my problems with living on a small island in the Atlantic Ocean, and I appreciate this for some has it’s advantages, is that rarely do things change. Yet in the recent year or so brought about by the Americas Cup, I’ve witnessed a renewed confidence in the local economy and a surge in young and talented Bermudians willing to challenge the status quo.

The Island has seen an uptick in overseas visitors and they have witnessed a much more thriving island, Hamilton in particular where autonomous stores and places to grab a drink or food, often owned by young creative individuals or partnerships compete with the established but often humdrum and uninspiring names, all owned by just a handful wealthy families.

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Dec 24

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Christmas Eve

Other than being 23 degrees celsius, Christmas Eve in Bermuda mirrors Christmas in the UK for most people on the island.

Tonight we have spent some time convincing my daughter to go to bed, wrapped more presents than is necessary, ran out of tape, crammed enough food for a small African nation into the fridge, toyed with preparing the vegetables, fussed over the frozen turkey, drunk wine, ate cheese, baked cookies for Santa, left a carrot out which I must remember to bite later, convinced my chorister-other-half not to go to evening mass but instead listen to Now That’s What I Call Christmas on repeat, sat down with a box of Heroes with It’s A Wonderful Life on, cracked nuts once I found the nut cracker and not the two that sit aside our fireplace that I spent hours cleaning this morning on my daughter’s wishes so Santa wouldn’t get his bottom dirty when he came down the chimney.

All with my parents for company, which is lovely.

Get to bed early, sleep tight and a very Merry Christmas to you and your families.

Sep 10

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Hurricane Irma

Like a lot of others I am sat tonight glued to CNN and the Weather Channel like it’s a drug. One of the reasons is work related. I live and breathe risk during the week, natural, human or otherwise, so what is happening in Florida and happened to those poor Caribbean islands and Texas last week has massive ramifications for us at work.

For reason’s I haven’t fathomed I seem to be rather attracted to hurricanes. I wouldn’t mind but I can’t even fly a kite. Yet in the last couple of weeks I have been in St Barts, Saint Martin, Sarasota, Tampa and Miami and I live on an island in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean that has annoyingly been a recent magnet to big storms, around 7 or 8 hurricanes in the past 5 years, once we even had two different hurricanes over consecutive weekends!

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Jul 18

Bermuda’s turn to vote

Today it is Bermuda’s turn to vote in a general election. And unlike the USA and UK polls, the ones here think it’s going to be close, which probably means it won’t be. The One Bermuda Alliance (OBA) are the incumbent, who dramatically came to power in 2012 beating the Progressive Labour Party (PLP) by about 5% of the vote and gaining 19 of the 36 available constituencies, which in truth individually are no more than small towns, with around 1,200 or so eligible to vote in each.

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Jun 29

Legacy of the Americas Cup

I’ll be honest, I had grave reservations about Bermuda hosting the 35th Americas Cup. I often have reservations about Bermuda hosting anything, and normally with good reason. Leading up to the first weekend we joked at work that the concrete at the village would still be wet, the ferry’s would go on strike and the food vendors would shut for lunch.

But I couldn’t have been more wrong, Bermuda not only carried off hosting the Americas Cup, they carried it high, and probably head and shoulders higher than any host had carried it before.

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Jun 26

Team Emirates NZ win the Americas Cup

It took just 23 minutes this afternoon for Emirates Team New Zealand to win the 35th Americas Cup meaning they will take the Auld Mug, the oldest trophy in world sport back to New Zealand for the first time since 2000.

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Jun 25

Miracle

That is what is needed now by Team Oracle USA. They were comfortably beaten twice today by challengers Emirates Team New Zealand to take the Americas Cup final points board to 6-1. In fact in the 2nd race Burling humiliated Spithill who failed to box in his rival before the start line and had to watch Burling accelerate into a 13-second lead before Spithill had even crossed the start line. Cameras showed Burling wave at Spithill as he raced past him.

An Oracle miracle is now needed. Yes, 4 years ago in San Francisco the Americans came from 1-8 to beat the Kiwi challengers 9-8 in what is described by people who know nothing of Charlton’s win over Huddersfield in 1957 as the best ever comeback in world sports.

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Jun 24

The future of the Americas Cup

Ever since Jimmy Spithill and the large contingent of Team Oracle landed in Bermuda over 2 years ago they have talked of bringing the Americas Cup back to the islands of Bermuda if the USA team retain the trophy. The crew, designers, engineers, boat builders, administrators, and a whole range of specialists and back room staff and their families have integrated themselves very well into the fabric of the island.

Without any doubt they have been given every assistance, been allowed to cut corners and slipped rules and legalizations have been amended but, and some locals will argue the opposite, most will belive that Team Oracle has been good for this island, no more so than their inspirational leader Spithill.

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Jun 19

One way traffic

This was not the close and exciting Americas Cup Final everyone was hoping for. At least so far. It was men against boys, Chelsea v Charlton. In fact even that analogy doesn’t do justice to how dominate Team Emirates New Zealand were over Team Oracle this past weekend.

Four races, two Saturday, two Sunday, and four comprehensive wins for the Kiwi challengers. Where Jimmy Spithill and Team Oracle go now, who knows.

Spithill and Team Oracle came back once before, big, four years ago in San Francisco, and the only crumb of comfort for the Aussie skipper is that the point they won from winning the qualifiers here, means they trail 3-0 and not 4-0, but Team Oracle is in a hole and four more wins for Peter Burling and his crew means that Emirates will snuffle the oldest trophy in world sports, put in it’s own Louis Vuitton case and ship it back to the Southern Hemisphere.

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Jun 15

All Black magic

On Monday in hardly any wind Emirates Team New Zealand finally saw off Team Artemis’ valiant challenge and won the Louis Vuitton America’s Cup Challenger series and a sizeable looking trophy but importantly won the right to go up against the Americas Cup defenders Team Oracle USA, in what will be a repeat of that remarkable final 4 years ago.

After Sunday the Kiwis led the Swedes by 4-2 and required just one more win on Monday. In the first race Artemis appeared to have the edge, but as the wind dropped to a slight breeze both boats became almost stationary in the middle of the Great Sound and when the time limit to finish the race was reached, that race was abandoned.
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Jun 10

Immense

So what is happening in the Americas Cup you ask. Well the BBC are covering it quite extensively and it is live on BT Sport as well as NBC Sports. However as you asked I will update you.

Today begins the Challenger Play-Off’s Final, a best of 9 series of races that come Monday will give us the challenger to the defenders Team Oracle.

I spent little time at my desk this week and a lot of time up at the Americas Cup Village in Royal Dockyard, and saw some immense racing in some intense weather conditions.

Tuesday we had our first considerable rainfall for months and the Village resembled a huge wet t-shirt contest as thousands of people watched what five time Olympian Sir Ben Ainslie called “the most exciting, exhilarating day of sailing I’ve ever been involved in”.

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Jun 4

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Au revoir

No not another ode to Yann or a post on Patrick Bauer’s potential move back to Germany, but more on the Americas Cup which continues to be the talk of the island.

Saturday saw the end of the Round Robin Americas Cup Qualifiers which meant that the French team had to exit the competition. Groupama Team France and Jose Mourinho look-a-like Franck Cammas over acheived and made a lot of friends during their stay here but after eight defeats but two suprising wins, they finished bottom of the 1st Round standings and will play no further part in the 35th Americas Cup. Although Cammas has said the team will stay and provide practice competition for the now idle Team Oracle.

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Jun 3

Tall ships festival

As part of the whole Americas Cup shebang the iconic tall ships are back in Bermuda and twenty or so of these wonderful vessels are moored on Front Street as part of the Tall Ships Festival.

The ships are here as part of the Rendez-Vous 2017 Tall Ships Regatta, a 7,000 nautical mile Trans-Atlantic journey that started on the Thames in Greenwich in April before sailing to Sines in Portugal and now onto Bermuda. After departing Bermuda next week the fleet will race to Boston, then to Canada and Prince Edward Island and Quebec City. Then they race back to Europe to finish the Regatta in Le Havre at the beginning of September.

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May 28

Ship ahoy

Shiver me timbers. Sorry that’s a pirate term, but still…. I have been very lucky to attend a lot of the biggest sporting events, and I have to tell you that the opening day of the 35th Americas Cup will join the list of very memorable days out, and up there with the Masters, The Open, Ashes test matches, Wimbledon and Olympic events.

The Americas Cup village, built on land that wasn’t even there a year ago, was immaculate and beautifully presented. More than 10,000 people, a sixth of the island’s population, watched the first day’s sail boat racing from various viewpoints and the excitement was plain to see and hear. In Bermuda election year I just wish the politicians would stop trying to score points off each other, and accept that this little island is going to experience something very special and create memories long lasting over these next 6 weeks.

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May 27

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.

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May 25

Americas Cup 2017 teams – Groupama Team France

One of the last arrivals to Bermuda were the French team Groupama. Team France got here in March and are rank outsiders to win the 35th Americas Cup after finishing a distant last in the preceding World Series event. The team is skippered by 44-year old Frenchman Franck Cammas, who has an impressive sailing CV but will compete in his first ever Americas Cup. Cammas is also an accomplished piano player and skier and has been sailing since he was 10.

Cammas developed the Groupama Team with Michel Desjoyeaux and Olivier de Kersauson in an attempt to take the Americas Cup back to France for the first time.

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May 24

Americas Cup 2017 teams – SoftBank Team Japan

Kiwi Dean Barker is the team CEO and skipper of SoftBank Team Japan and is competing in his 6th America’s Cup. Five years after making his America’s Cup debut at age of 26 he steered Team New Zealand to victory in 2000. Barker, son of the well-known New Zealand multi-millionaire Ray Barker of the Barkers Clothing retail chain, sailed from an early age, and defected from the New Zealand Team Emirates after a well publicized fall out with the owner to move to the newly founded Japanese syndicate in 2015.

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May 22

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Americas Cup 2017 teams – Emirates Team New Zealand

Considered to be the biggest challengers to Team Oracle, Team New Zealand came within one win of taking the America’s Cup home in 2013. After blasting their way through the Challengers’ elimination series, and after leading by a mile in the Final challenge the Kiwi’s finished on the wrong side of one of the greatest comebacks in all of sport.

Now under Glenn Ashby they are out to avenge their infamous capitulation. Based in Auckland, Team New Zealand has become a household name in their home country following their consecutive wins in the America’s Cup in 1995 and 2000. In doing this, they became the first team from a country outside the United States to win and successfully defend the America’s Cup.

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May 21

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.
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May 16

Americas Cup 2017 team – Artemis Racing

Named for a Greek goddess, but based in Sweden at the historic Kungliga Svenska Segel Sällskapet (KSSS – the Royal Swedish Yacht Club), the Artemis team is led by Australian Nathan Outerbridge. A gold medalist at London 2012, Outerbridge was part of Artemis’ challenge in 2013, which ended in both disappointment and tragedy after their main boat capsized in strong winds, resulting in the death of British crewmember Andrew Simpson.

Team captain is two time Olympian Ian Percy, OBE and the rest of the crew is packed with experience amassing 12 America’s Cup campaigns, and having competed in 21 Olympics Games, winning 11 medals, including 7 golds.

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May 9

Americas Cup 2017 teams – Land Rover BAR

Four time Olympic gold medalist Sir Ben Ainslie is possibly the world’s most recognizable face in the world of sailing, and he and his wife, ex-Sky Sports presenter Georgie Thompson, are often been spotted here since moving to Bermuda last year.

Born in Macclesfield to a sailing family Ben won Olympic medals at five consecutive Olympic Games and has reams of world sailing titles and was instrumental in Team Oracle winning the 2013 Americas Cup. Oracle recruited Ainslie as the crew’s chief tactician with the team losing 5-0 to Emirates Team New Zealand. Spithill, Ainslie, Slingsby and others then turned around the deficit to eventually win 9-8 after being 1-8 down.

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May 3

Americas Cup 2017 teams – Team Oracle

The American host team and winners of the ‘Auld Mug in Valencia in 2010 and San Francisco in 2013. Owned by one of the world’s richest men Larry Ellison, Bermuda was chosen as the venue for the American’s to retain the trophy they have won 31 times. It is also expected that if Oracle were to pervail then Ellison would keep the team base in Bermuda, which would be good news for the island.

The co-founder of Oracle which he began with $1,200 of his own money, Larry Ellison is the 7th richest man in the world with a fortune said to now exceed $55bn. The 72-year old remains Executive Chairman of Oracle but mostly now spends his time on his expensive passion’s for yachting, tennis, flying, real estate and young girlfriends. It is also said that he has given at least $150m away to charities. Ellison’s yacht Musashi is expected to be arriving in Bermuda any day.

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May 1

Americas Cup 2017

The Americas Cup, first contested in 1851, 45 years before the modern day Olympics, is the world’s oldest international sporting competition. In August 1851 an upstart crew from the United States swept past the royal yacht on a race around the Isle of Wight and won the £100 prize and the Americas Cup was born. Named not for the nationality of the victors, but after the name of the winning boat.

The prize was taken back to the New York Yacht Club, where the 100 ft schooner called America and it’s crew hailed from and it was to be well over a century before the United States were to lose the trophy. That was in 1983 when after a 132-year winning streak the Australian’s finally cracked it and took the Americas Cup down under.

The American’s won it back 4 years later, although New Zealand have won it twice in recent decades as have, in a huge turn up for the books, land-locked Switzerland in 2003 and 2007.

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Apr 19

Whale watching

I have always been a bad omen at anything like this. Once in Mexico, the captain told us that they’d seen hundreds of playful dolphins the day before. Not the day I went. Likewise gray whales in San Diego one time. I did see the arse of an alligator in the alligator infested Everglades, but didn’t see one bear in Yosemite, not a wild toucan in Belize, nor a jaguar in Nicaragua. Indeed a quest to see mating glow worms in Bermuda was fruitless, at least for me if not the worms.

Even Guy the Gorilla was given the day off when my Grandad took us to London Zoo when I was kid….

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Jan 29

My 2016 Top Five Favourite Bermuda Things

My final Top Five selection from last year are things closer to home. Bermuda has much natural beauty, and outdoors is an alfresco activity heaven but beyond that it lacks some modern day indulgences. So I’ve avoided all the natural beauty, which I should remind myself I must never take for granted, and chosen some oddments that make life in Bermuda a little more sweeter.

So, here are my Top Five Favourite Bermuda Things from last year:

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Jan 10

Thin ice

A quick skip and a jump across the Atlantic to New York for two days for some work meetings with my boss and a few other fellows from across the continent. Short and sweet, and cold (photo), although not as cold in the Big Apple as it was this past weekend.

Bermuda weather has turned a little chilly as well, as it tends to in January for a month or two of what we nominally call winter.

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Dec 31

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Happy New Year

As I sit here in my pyjamas with a beer with far too long to wait until midnight I feel content that I don’t have to go out and pretend tonight will be the best night of my life. Movies are downloading, my daughter sits at my feet and we have a fridge full of snacks. Good enough for me.

I turned 50 this year and we spent a couple of memorable weeks in Rio at the Olympics to celebrate it, although I’ll be honest I’ve struggled moving into the next decade of my life. Not physically, I feel good and I think I look alright but it has made me very introspective and I question myself a lot, especially when I wake in the middle of the night, which happens more and more. Must be old age and my eyes are going and my ears are getting bigger as well….

My 2016 had its challenges. Personally and professionally. Questions without answers. Vacillant sometimes, headstrong other times.

Charlton are no longer an escape for me or sadly for the majority of us. I never ever thought my love for them would wane, but incredibly it has and it breaks my heart.
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