Into this world of speed, courage and cutting-edge design comes , an offshore legal specialist that has picked up the plum title of Official Law Firm of the 2017 America’s Cup, which will be held in Bermuda. For as anyone who follows this 163-year race knows, lawyers often get involved. There are issues around patents of novel designs, not to mention potential litigation when competitors argue about alleged rule breaches. There are more prosaic bureaucratic issues that can arise when so many people, and so much money, is involved.

Appleby has a fair pedigree itself, if not quite as venerable as the Cup: it was founded in 1897 in the era before modern fabrics, ropes and glass fibre hulls.

The 35th America’s Cup begins with America’s Cup World Series events in 2015 and 2016 at locations around the world, including the UK, Italy, Sweden, Bermuda and the US. Racing takes place in the newly-turbocharged AC45 foiling catamarans.

In 2017, all teams will compete in their new AC62 catamarans, powered by “wingsails”; these nautical titans are designed to fly above the water on foils at speeds of nearly 50 mph. Racing begins for all teams with the America’s Cup Qualifiers where the teams are seeded - with bonus points - according to their results in the World Series. The top challengers then go on to compete for the America’s Cup Challenger Playoffs and the right to race ORACLE TEAM USA in the America’s Cup Finals in Bermuda in June 2017. (The race in the latest event, held in September 2013, is reported to have cost an eye-watering $100 million per team.)

It will, meanwhile, be interesting to see whether specific race teams get backing from the likes of private banks over the next few years.