Iain Percy has fond memories of sailing in Bermuda.

It comes as no real surprise therefore that the double Olympic medal-winner is thrilled that the Island will host the 35th America’s Cup at one of his favourite sailing destinations.

“I love Bermuda,” said Percy, team manager and tactician of Swedish America’s Cup challenger Artemis Racing. “I’ve sailed there several times and the hospitality you get from the locals is overwhelming. I know how excited everyone is about us coming there.

“For me, the best events are where the locals get behind it and enjoy it. So I think that’s going to make it very special. It’s going to be a very exciting America’s Cup.”

Percy, who won a silver medal in the Star class at the 2012 Olympics in England with late compatriot Andrew Simpson, reckons that the Great Sound’s notoriously flukey conditions will keep the racing syndicates on their toes.

“You’ve always had the old adage in the America’s Cup that the fastest boat wins, but this is a tricky venue,” Percy said. “We’ll all have to wake up.

“It’s going to be shifty with a wide range of conditions and that’s going to be a new element. Strategy and tactics will be a big factor in this venue.”

Like all of the America’s Cup syndicates, Artemis Racing have been busy getting the handle on their wing sail AC45 catamaran, which has now been equipped to foil like its larger cousin, the AC62.

“We’ve been doing a lot of training and testing on our AC45 foiler, which we converted before the last America’s Cup, when we realised foiling was the way to go,” Percy said. “The foiling 45 is a reasonable platform to simulate the AC62. There are scaling issues between the 45 and the 62, but this is a good way to draft the lessons you learn on the water into the design.

“You can learn a lot about things like foil shapes, stability, systems. It’s hard to know from the computer how controllable certain designs might be, for example. So being able to test them on the foiling AC45 is quite valuable.”

In terms of boat design and crew, Artemis Racing have undergone significant changes since the previous America’s Cup held in San Francisco in 2013.

“On the design side we’ve made almost a full change and on the sailing team it’s been about a 50 per cent change and the build and shore team is pretty similar to last time,” Percy said. “Overall we’ve probably made about a 50 per cent turnover on the team. We have quite a few young guys who have come in with a lot of fresh ideas and enthusiasm and we’ve gelled really well.

“We’re very much growing as one team at Artemis Racing. The people who have joined us are all very open. We’ve brought in people who like an idea, not just their own ideas, which has been great.

“We have very good collaboration between the sailors and designers and builders, with everyone working together and talking through ideas.

“It’s been rewarding to have everyone, sailors, designers, builders, understand the trade-offs we need to evaluate before we lock in our design plans.”