Bermuda could potentially enter a team in the international SailGP global sailing league, The Royal Gazette can reveal.

The island, which will again host one of the championship’s regattas in 2024, has launched a bid to secure one of two available spots for the fourth instalment of the event.

“You may recall we went to nine teams for season three and we were looking to expand the teams to ten or 11 in season five,” Andrew Thompson, the SailGP chief commercial and financial officer, told The Royal Gazette.

“I am hugely excited about the potential of a Bermudian team joining SailGP in season four. There’s lots of hard work going on behind the scenes by a private group of individuals who are looking to raise funds for that team.

“There is a Bermuda SailGP steering committee formed on the island and that group is looking to appeal to the business community for corporate sponsorship and to get involved with the the fund-raising effort. We are trying to raise funds through private individuals and private corporations.

“There seems to be a lot of momentum on island following our event in May this year and we have been working with the group. Fund-raising is probably halfway there but we are looking to see if there is anybody else on the island that wants to get involved in supporting this team.”

Despite the positive vibes for a Bermuda team, the island faces stiff competition from other countries in the race to secure a spot in the global event.

“I would say we have four nations vying for those two spots,” Thompson said. “Germany is one and Italy is another but Bermuda is certainly one of the front-runners, so it’s really exciting to be working with the group there.”

The Bermuda SailGP team would be led by three non-local sailors and feature an overall crew of six.

“For new teams coming in, such as Bermuda, we have three non-nationals on the boats to begin with and there’s six people on the boat, so three of them will be Bermudian in the first season that they enter,” Thompson said.

“But, over time, we will have at least five Bermudians on that boat as you can take a non-national off the boat each year. The way we have set that up is to make sure the team is competitive straight away and that those non-nationals train and work with a local team to get it up and running.”

Potential crew members for the local team have already been contacted.

“There are individuals that have been identified and there are a few initial conversations that have happened,” Thompson said.

“As you recall from Team BDA (Red Bull Youth America’s Youth Cup) in 2017, there is a really good nucleus of talent in Bermuda. I think there’s some really good individuals sailing regattas recently whose performances have been really strong, so there is a good base.

“We will certainly be looking to bring some major international talent to support that group in the early years to make the team competitive from day one, which is everything that SailGP is about.

“If you recall, the Canadian team that came in for the Bermuda race this year made it to the podium. That was their first race, so that’s something we will look to do with Bermuda for sure.”

Thompson says Bermuda competing in the international series would provide long-term benefits for the country.

“It would be huge for the island in my view and I think very much the ethos of the team is to deliver growth to Bermuda and secure a long-term legacy,” he said.

“For the island it’s not just having an event which obviously delivers a lot of value, but also having a team competing in that event around the world. We are really trying to deliver by exposing a Bermuda team to the world and it’s a really good billboard.

“But the ethos here needs to be a team for all of Bermuda capitalising on the legacy of the Endeavour and Inspire programmes that SailGP has brought to the island.

“We really need to capitalise on all the good the Endeavour team are doing on island so that Bermudians from all backgrounds can get on this team and be competitive with the rest of the world as Bermuda always punches well above its weight on a global scale.”