Oracle Team USA could have a sparring partner in the very near future.

Nathan Outteridge, helmsman of America’s Cup challenger Artemis Racing, revealed yesterday that the team’s turbo-charged AC45 catamaran is scheduled to be on Island this week and could soon join Oracle in the Great Sound.

The teams are quite familiar with each other, having conducted trials in their catamarans in San Francisco Bay this year before moving their operations to Bermuda in preparation for the 35th America’s Cup.

“We’re hoping to be up and running next week and we’ll just see how it goes,” said Outteridge, who won the gold medal in the 49er skiff at the 2012 London Olympics.

“It’s due to arrive this week and it takes a fair bit of time to put together. As long as there’s been no damage in transport, we are hoping to be out there next week.”

The Australian skipper, a 2008 world champion in the 49ers, observed Oracle’s AC45S blitz around the Great Sound yesterday while training in one of the Swedish team’s A Class catamarans.

“We saw Oracle take their first day of sailing, so we are keen to get out there and start sailing with them as soon as we can,” Outteridge said.

“They have been here for nearly a month and we have been here for just over a week, so it would be good to get out on the water as soon as we can.”

At one stage, Outteridge managed to get up close to Oracle’s catamaran.

“I was out in my A Cat, so I thought here’s a good chance to get close to them,” he said. “But before I could even say anything, they took off and were gone and I had three chase boats trying to keep between me and them.

“We have some good mates on Oracle. We are good mates with Tom [Slingsby] and Kyle [Langford] who were on there and it’s just good to see them out sailing.”

Outteridge and his Artemis team-mates have travelled to the Island for a two-week training exercise in smaller, foiling catamarans.

“The sailing team got here last week and it was pretty windy, so we did not get a whole lot of sailing in,” Outteridge said. “We have some Phantoms, A Cats and Moths here, and we are just learning the racecourse until our 45 is ready to go.

“The racecourse is small but it looks pretty good. Goobs [Iain Jensen] and I got out in two A Cats and did from the Channel all the way to the bottom of Morgan’s Point to get an understanding of where all the shallow bits are.

“It is pretty important because you don’t want any disasters out there hitting rocks. We were also just seeing how shifty it is and the conditions were beautiful. It was 15 to 18 knots and very enjoyable.”