Joining forces with one of the greatest sailors of all time in a bid to return the America’s Cup to British soil was an opportunity Christopher Sharples, Commodore of The Royal Yacht Squadron in the United Kingdom, could not pass up.

Sir Ben Ainslie, a multiple Olympic medallist, world champion and ISAF Sailor of the Year and America’s Cup winner, announced his challenge for the “Auld Mug” with the prestigious yacht club last summer.

It is the first time that the RYS has been involved in an America’s Cup challenge in more than half a century.

Mr Sharples, son of late Bermuda Governor Sir Richard Sharples, said: “We have clearly waited a long time for an opportunity like this and were delighted when Sir Ben, who was already a member of the RYS, wrote to me enquiring whether we would be prepared to challenge for the 35th America’s Cup with a team that he was putting together.

“When we looked at the quality of the financial backers that he had lined up, the technical experts that he was gathering around him, the competence of his managers both in terms of running a major business and the sailing programme — not to mention Ben’s own reputation as the best competitive UK sailor for many generations, the decision was straightforward. The Royal Yacht Squadron Racing Ltd, the affiliated organising company for our regattas, would make the challenge as Sir Ben had requested.”

Sir Ben is Team Principal and Helmsman of Ben Ainslie Racing, the first British America’s Cup challenge since 2003 when White Lightning, skippered by Ian Walker, was eliminated in the semi-final round of the Louis Vuitton Cup.

The RYS’s ties with the America’s Cup date back to 1851 when the club hosted a fleet race around the Isle of Wight.

The race was won by the New York Yacht Club schooner, America, that beat the best the British could offer to win the Royal Squadron’s 100 Pound Cup. After America’s famous victory, the celebrated schooner was sold and the trophy donated to the New York Yacht Club under a Deed of Gift, which stated that it was to be a “perpetual challenge cup for friendly competition between nations”.

Thus was born the America’s Cup, a trophy Britain has never won. “Since 1851 the RYS has made several attempts to win the “Auld Mug”, as it is affectionately called, but unfortunately none were successful,” Mr Sharples said.

“There were many reasons but there is no denying that on many occasions we did not have the right combination of yacht design and team of sailors to win that elusive trophy.

“Over the long period since 1851 until now there have only been six challenges by the RYS.

“The first was in 1885 by Sir Richard Sutton. The Earl of Dunraven challenged in 1893 and 1895 with Valkyrie II and III. Sir Thomas Sopwith brought his aeronautical expertise and technology into a marine context by challenging with Endeavour and then Endeavour II (1934 and 1937). The last occasion was way back in 1958 when a syndicate headed by Hugh Goodson heading an RYS syndicate challenged with Sceptre.”

Returning the “Auld Mug” to Britain, Mr Sharples said, would mean so much to so many in the UK.

“To win the Cup and bring it back to West Cowes Castle, the home of the Royal Yacht Squadron for nearly all its 200 years of existence, would be something that can only be described as cause for the very greatest celebrations by our Members, including Sir Ben, his backers and his team but also a great many people in the United Kingdom as well,” he said.

“The America’s Cup is the oldest and the only major international sporting trophy that the UK has never won and for nearly everyone involved in competitive sailing it is the Holy Grail of the ultimate competition between nations.”