“Eet’s the end of summer,” said the taxi driver, en route from the airport to Barcelona, partly because he’d just learned to say it on Duolingo, but mostly because of the heavy rain and great bolts of fork lightning in the sky above the Catalonian capital.

The line-up was exceptional with the presence of legendary sailors. The races were intense, with difficult weather conditions for everyone. We are very lucky to have an extraordinary team of volunteers at the club, nothing would be possible without them!

A broken wrist while wakeboarding in 2015 turned out to be a pivotal moment for Kelsy. Despite the setback, it led to her first opportunity to helm a boat, as it was the only task she could perform with a cast. This experience opened doors for her and accelerated her career as a professional sailor.

Flicking back through the years I can’t help thinking the the 12 meters in Freemantle represented the Modern AC at its zenith.

'Exceptionally fast in the hands of a highly talented, motivated and sharply focused crew, Challenge 12 was bristling with potential', wrote journalist Bruce Stannard, who covered the 1983 America's Cup series for the ABC and The Age.

“I was still in school in ’83 and was on the dock during the Trials in 1977 when Ted Turner and Gary Jobson rushed by with cameras following them,” said Courageous Skipper Dawn Riley, who would go on to sail in four America’s Cup races and two Whitbread Round the World races. “It made a big impression on a 13-year-old from Detroit!”

“You have no idea what it feels like to screech across the bay at 20+ knots with water rushing over the gunnels into the cockpit.. and EVERYONE just beaming… sucking in the rush… “

The adventure started by putting her on a truck to come back to my region, in Brittany. The mast was put on a different truck. It took a while to organiSe the expedition and I decided to create my own shipyard to start the renovation.

It’s amazing that yachts which require so many crew, so much expertise, not to mention so many dollars to run them, have become such a flourishing class in Europe and the USA.