The prospect of witnessing the pinnacle of sailing technology cutting through Bermuda’s waters at speeds up to 50mph is all too tempting for the Island’s top sailors and officials.

And Bermuda’s chances of beating out San Francisco and two other countries to host the 2017 America’s Cup are relatively high, according to sources close to the bidding process.

Bermuda’s biggest advantage in hosting the event is that Bermuda itself is submitting the bid, as opposed to a city or municipality, significantly cutting down the chances of bureaucratic hang-ups.

The America’s Cup Event Authority is said to be very appreciative of the top-down approach, according to sources.

Another chip stacked in Bermuda’s favour is the CEO of America’s Cup champion Oracle Team USA, Russell Coutts, is a seven-time winner of the Gold Cup — Bermuda’s biggest local sailing event.

Mr Coutts has visited Bermuda a number of times in recent months, and was said to be on the Island earlier this week.

As the ultimate decision on where the event is held falls with the Oracle team, sources said Mr Coutts’ connection to Bermuda will give the country another leg up on the competition.

But regardless of who ends up hosting the event, just having Bermuda’s name in the mix is a major, albeit somewhat delayed, coup, according to Peter Shrubb, who has served as a judge and umpire in multiple Olympics and other major sailing events around the world, including the 2007 America’s Cup in Valencia.

A symbolic stamp-of-approval from the Authority in choosing Bermuda, said Mr Shrubb, should signal to other organisers that Bermuda is an ideal place for high-end competitive sailing.

“We’ve been the training ground for a lot of old style America’s Cup boats back in the 80s,” said Mr Shrubb.

“Some of the Volvo Ocean Race boats have expressed interest in training here because you’re guaranteed that there is going to be decent weather and wind.

“A lot of other places either suffer from no wind or too much wind or bad weather or just cold weather, but Bermuda’s pretty stable all year round. Even in the winter there are ideal sailing conditions.”

Mr Shrubb said that while it will take a “huge” commitment on Bermuda’s behalf just to upgrade the necessary infrastructures to deal with crowds, the opportunity to fulfil that commitment is just as large.

“We have the perfect venue for it. The Great Sound is an amazing amphitheatre for that kind of thing. Obviously the weather is good, the timing is good, and Bermuda’s a place which is central to Europeans and the United States, in between both continents.

“I’m not totally surprised the announcement was made, it’s about time that people started to realise what a great venue we have here for that kind of thing.”

In terms of the efforts required to pull off such an event, Mr Shrubb said Bermuda already has some of the requisite facilities needed.

“Morgan’s Point, for example, is an ideal spot for the boats. Morgans Point would be perfect.

“The rest of the infrastructure is already here — we have hotels and beds and restaurants and that kind of stuff — but what was really built in Valencia was the marina part, and that’s the hard part.

“Morgans Point is already there and it wouldn’t take much to turn that into a great sailing centre.”

Also reacting to the news, the Chamber of Commerce yesterday signalled its support to Bermuda’s bid, recognising “that a successful bid will put Bermuda and our tourism product in the spotlight internationally and has the potential to infuse much needed money into infrastructural projects on Island”.

Chamber President Kendaree Burgess said she and the Chamber “are excited to hear that Bermuda is in the running and are willing to assist in any way that we can”.

The announcement left Bermuda’s most recent top sailor, Zander Kirkland, who sailed in the 2013 Olympics in London with his brother Jesse, watering at the mouth.

“Having been captivated by the America’s Cup last year in my adopted city of San Francisco, I have to say that it was one of the most impressive events I have ever witnessed before,” said Mr Kirkland.

“This would be one of the most exciting and grand events Bermuda has ever hosted by a long shot.

“With at least a handful of multi-hundred million dollar campaigns, the dollar value to Bermuda would be huge relative to our GDP.

“Not to mention all that media coverage, the boats would look amazing ripping around the Great Sound and I know that would look amazing on HD TV.”

Another former Olympic sailor, Penny Simmons, said at the very least, attempting to host the event will give Bermuda very good reason to upgrade the necessary infrastructure.

It’s fantastic news. It’s almost beyond belief, actually. Realising the amount of organisation that’s required to put this event on, from Bermuda’s point of view, we’re going to have a tremendous rush in tourism. We have to know if we’re ready.

“I realise it’s three years away, [but that] might be a good thing because we certainly need the time to get organised.”