As a youngster sailing around Hamilton Harbour in dinghies, competing at America’s Cup level might have been the furthest thing from Alex Wadson’s mind.

But that is exactly what happened to the Bermudian sailor who competed in 1980 and ‘83 America’s Cups in Newport, Rhode Island with British syndicates Lionheart and Victory.

Mr Wadson, brother of local farmer Tom, served on both syndicates as a sail trimmer on the 12-Metre yachts used in America’s Cup racing at the time.

“Even though we were eliminated both times, sailing in the America’s Cup was certainly an honour,” Mr Wadson recalled.

“In many ways it is considered as the highest level of competition, so as an athlete or a competitor if you manage to compete at that level it certainly is an honour to do that.”

The year 1983 was the year that the New York Yacht Club parted company with the ‘Auld Mug’ for the first time in 132 years after Dennis Conner’s Liberty was defeated by Challenger Australia II in Newport.

“There was certainly a lot of innovation in ‘83 in the America’s Cup with Australia II and the wing keel and all that stuff that occurred,” recalled Mr Wadson, who now resides in Newport.

Following on the heels of Lionheart three years prior, Victory progressed all the way to the finals of the elimination trials, often referred to as the Louis Vuitton Cup, but was defeated 4-1 to the eventual winner of the America’s Cup, Australia II. Mr Wadson received the chance of a lifetime to compete at that level after being invited to join the British syndicate whilst studying abroad in the United Kingdom.

“I was in University of Bournemouth in the South of England and basically ended up doing a lot of racing in the Solem near the Isle of Wight and I was basically asked to join,” he explained. “That’s how I first got involved and it was basically through word of mouth and doing a lot of sailing.

“After I joined I had to do fitness trials and sailing to see how you fit in various positions and then go from there.”

The former Saltus Grammar School student’s journey in sailing started out in dinghies such as the old Enterprise and Cadet, which were common in Bermuda during his childhood.

“I sailed in Bermuda for years as a kid and carried on with a lot more interests in bigger boats as I got older,” Mr Wadson explained. “My career went a little bit towards wind surfing and I did a lot of that with people like Barry Lightbourne and Brian Hillier.”

Mr Wadson made the transition to larger, offshore keelboats when he began studies in the south coast of England near the venue where the first America’s Cup took place in 1851.

When it was announced last week that Bermuda would host the 35th America’s Cup in 2017, Mr Wadson admits he was taken completely by surprise.

“I was kind of surprised to be honest,” he said. “From a sailing point of view, I’ve always thought that the last Cup held in San Francisco was awesome. Having it in Bermuda is going to be very interesting.

“It’s going to be a big challenge to pull off such an event provided the amount of Challengers (six to date), which is up there. It’s a huge event and to me it’s like bringing NASCAR to Bermuda — it’s major.”

As for sailing in the America’s Cup 12-Metre yacht, Mr Wadson explained: “The 12-metre, compared to present day sailing, are heavy upwind boats. They are kind of all by themselves now.

“They are really beautiful and glorious boats to sail on. But things have moved on and where we are now is also beautiful.”

Competing in the America’s Cup created many other opportunities for Mr Wadson.

“It certainly helped me in moving further ahead in a career in sailing,” he said. “I went from sailing in the America’s Cup to project managing and building offshore boats and I’ve also done part of the Whitbread Around The World Race in ‘87.

“Doing the America’s Cup certainly helped me continue racing and then I moved from there to start a rigging business in Newport and I have been involved in this whole industry since ‘81.”

Since his America’s Cup sailing career ended, Mr Wadson has had the opportunity to work with more modern America’s Cup designs.

“I have made quite a bit of rigging for various America’s Cup teams over the years,” he said. “I worked for a company that made rigging so we supplied many groups.”

In terms of boat design, much has changed since Mr Wadson’s days duelling in the 12-metre.

The design of choice today is the wing-sail, hydro foiling America’s Cup catamaran that is capable of reaching speeds in excess of 50 miles per hour.

“I think this is the greatest step forward in sailing,” Mr Wadson said. “I think it’s the biggest step forward to have foiling and the wings have been around for some time with the ‘C’ Class catamarans.

“It’s always been efficiency and technology in the America’s Cup, which is just awesome. I enjoy sailing extremely fast and I enjoy technology, and the development of technology in the America’s Cup is just great.”