October’s Louis Vuitton America’s Cup World Series in Bermuda will offer race fans an “unforgettable experience”, according to Michael Dunkley.

The Premier said the event will be just as exciting as the first one in Portsmouth which he attended along with a host of other local dignitaries that conducted a scouting mission and helped promote October’s event in Bermuda.

“Bermuda will be a different scale but we have a lot of other things we are going to offer going forward and we’re excited about the opportunity of getting it to Bermuda,” Mr Dunkley said.

“I think people will get closer to the action so they’ll see the excitement first-hand and the scenery of Bermuda will certainly shine very brightly. Bermuda has certainly created a buzz through the sailing fraternity and also through the viewing fraternity and I am pleased there has been a great push behind this. We’ve got a lot of great companies involved in this and a lot of the dignitaries that have been here can’t wait to get to Bermuda and see what we have to offer and I’m excited.”

The final day of racing in Portsmouth was cancelled yesterday due to strong gales and torrential downpours.

“The first thing I’ve learnt is weather can strike at any time and I have already placed an order for October for good weather,” Mr Dunkley added.

Mike Winfield, the America’s Cup Bermuda chief executive officer, deemed the scouting and promotional endeavour as a resounding success.

“The ACBDA has had a small team in Portsmouth working very hard to pick up information and learn and prepare for Bermuda’s responsibilities beginning in October 2017,” he said.

“We spent time at the team bases, seeing how the teams set up, what their physical needs are and how the boats are launched and moored. We spent considerable time looking at how Team Origin had organised the Portsmouth event, how sponsors were being positioned and how they managed crowd control and developed excitement.

“It was good to see the BTA team working hard, promoting Bermuda to the thousands of people that came by their booth, and to see the Bermuda sponsors — Gosling’s getting great prominence and Hamilton Princess also very evident.

“Our partners in the ACEA were terrific, helping us continuously, giving us introductions, showing us how things were done. We have learnt much, have fully realised how big a job is ahead of us but return to Bermuda determined and much more aware of the demands that will be placed on us.

“We also saw much reinforcement of just how positive the America’s Cup is going to be for Bermuda with imaging and Bermuda branding going out continuously on the AC TV.”

Bermuda will host the America’s Cup World Series October 16 to 18 with all racing to take place in the Great Sound and the Race Village to be located on Front Street, Hamilton.

“I think we have some excitement building up to the World Series in October,” said Grant Gibbons, the Economic Development Minister responsible for the 35th America’s Cup, who was also in Portsmouth. “We are going to have a number of small business vendors in the World Series area in Hamilton on Front Street.”