Ground has been broken on the site in Dockyard that will form the base for 35th America’s Cup defender Oracle Team USA.

The multi-building complex, that will house Oracle’s fleet of wing sail AC62 foiling catamarans, is situated just east of the twin cement silos.

Members from Oracle are on Island on a scouting mission and to discuss team logistics, Grant Simmer, the team’s manager, confirmed yesterday.

“Several team members are in Bermuda this week on a scouting trip, as we prepare to move our operations here,” he said.

“We are planning on shipping our boats and equipment here in April with a view to getting sailing by the beginning of May.

“When the team is up and running here in late spring we’ll have about 60 people based in Dockyard.”

Among Oracle’s travelling entourage is Jimmy Spithill, the team skipper and 2014 ISAF Rolex Sailor of the Year, who will field questions from local media today. Spithill, whose younger brother Tom competed at last week’s International Moth World Championships in Australia, is no stranger to the Island.

In 2005 he became only the third Australian behind Gordon Lucas and Peter Gilmour to raise the King Edward VII Gold Cup, which is the oldest match racing trophy in the world for competition involving one-design yachts.

Spithill won the regatta the year after Oracle chief executive and five-times America’s Cup winner, Sir Russell Coutts, captured a record seventh Gold Cup.

Spithill, 35, is a two-times winner having led Oracle to victory in 2010 and 2013 and is also the youngest skipper to win the prestigious regatta.

He is the only Australian skipper to win the America’s Cup on multiple occasions and is also a past match race world champion. As well as competing at inshore regattas, Spithill also has a soft spot for offshore racing.

Last month he competed in the Rolex Sydney Hobart Race on the super maxi yacht, Comanche, which finished second behind Wild Oats XI in the battle for line honours.