This weekend’s America’s Cup festivities will be another special occasion for David and Jenny Campbell-James.

The English couple are the parents of Paul Campbell-James who will be calling the shots as tactician on board Land Rover BAR’s AC45F when racing starts in the Great Sound tomorrow.

The father, who represented Great Britain in the Tornado Class at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, takes great pride in seeing his son compete on the big stage.

“For me it’s just fantastic and, being a sailor, this is the ultimate stuff,” he said. “It’s just superb.”

The sailor’s mother is also proud to see her son, who joined Land Rover BAR just over a year ago, sailing at this level.

“It all seems so very surreal to me,” she said. “It’s hard to believe he’s here with all these superstars of sailing.

“Half a bunch of them we’ve known since they were little boys, so to see them all here as the ones everybody is watching seems awfully strange.”

The couple’s son has already enjoyed success in the World Series, having won it in 2013 as a helmsman with Italy’s Luna Rossa Challenge.

The four-times British match racing champion is quite familiar with the conditions in Bermuda having competed in the Argo Group Gold Cup to follow in the footsteps of his elder brother Mark who is also a Newport to Bermuda Race veteran.

Land Rover BAR are led by Olympic great, Sir Ben Ainslie, a two-times Gold Cup winner, who has assembled a team that Campbell-James Sr believes can fulfil its mission of regaining the “Auld Mug” — something which the British have failed to achieve since the first race in 1851.

“I think it’s an absolutely fantastic team and I’m really interested in how the people gel together,” Campbell-James Sr said.

“They are very, very serious but it’s a fun team with a really good spirit.

“I think Ben has done a fantastic job to put a team together in all aspects.

“It’s not just the sailing, it’s the design team and builders and also the building in Portsmouth, so I am very proud to wear my team shirt.”

The former Olympic sailor was the principal race officer at last week’s Argo Group Gold Cup and will also be involved in December’s Amblin International Moth regatta.

“Of all my events the Argo Group Gold Cup is the best of the year,” he said. “They look after us well and it’s really, really well run.”