Next year Bermuda plays host to the 35th America’s Cup – a unique interactive sailing experience. Ahead of the event visits the Caribbean island to try his hand at the sport

Clutching my shiny new sailing manual, I look out over the still waters of Hamilton Harbour and watch the under-8s lesson glide back into the marina.

My nerves reassured, I start to wonder if I should have bothered wearing clothes I don’t mind getting wet – this dinghy sailing doesn’t look too difficult.

After I’m shown the ropes of my companion – the 12ft RS Feva – on the quayside, I am towed out into the blue Bermudian waters to see what she can do.

I have come to Bermuda to master the basics of sailing dinghies, and even though I seem to spend most of my time swimming outside the boat, there surely can be no better place to learn.

Protected on almost all sides, Hamilton Harbour is a nursery for novices, and while I am here, the breeze is gentle and the sun always shines.

My course is with the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club, which is right on Hamilton’s waterfront and proud to call itself one of the oldest royal clubs in the world.

Founded in 1844, its oak-panelled trophy room seems a little plush for me to learn my ports from my starboards and my bowlines from my clove hitches, but the nautical trinkets and claret jug trophies give me a sense of the club’s history and grandeur, while spurring me on to do my best on the water.

My prize may only be the modest Royal Yachting Association’s (RYA) Start Sailing qualification, but as I gaze at the intricate model boats and out over the bay, I allow myself to daydream about a far greater spectacle in the not too distant future.

In May and June next year, the eyes of the world will be on Bermuda when it hosts the 35th America’s Cup, and this remote British Overseas Territory could not be more excited.

Sailing is in the blood of the Bermudians, so now that the planet’s biggest race is coming to town, it is impossible not to get caught up in the hype.

Around every corner I turn, I see an America’s Cup logo, and in every conversation I have, the event is high on the agenda.

The Great Sound will be the stage for the big races, with Bermuda’s horseshoe-shaped coastline serving as a vast volcanic amphitheatre, from where fans can watch the drama unfold.

Sir Ben Ainslie, the most successful sailor in Olympic history, was a member of the American team which won last time round, but now he’s hoping to steer his own team Land Rover Ben Ainslie Racing (BAR) to glory.

Land Rover BAR was launched in the presence of the Duchess of Cambridge in June 2014, and Sir Ben even took Kate on board his 45ft catamaran T1 for a training circuit in the Solent in May.

Now the British bid has the royal seal of approval and the Cup-holding skipper on board, there are high hopes it can be returned “home” after 166 years.

Bermuda’s history of shipwrecks, swashbuckling pirates and adventures means legend and folklore are intertwined with the history of this mystical place