Day 1: The adventure begins
“We’re on a boat on the Mediterranean bobbing up and down between the sailboats and CEO of Oracle Corp, Larry Ellison’s yacht, which is languidly being tended by several loving deckhands. It’s magnificent. We are getting a quick tour by Bruno Troublé, the spokesperson for the LV America’s Cup, and a former world-sailing champion who is showing us around, as the magnificent sailboats are lowered into the water and jets of air are shot underneath to prevent any sea creature or debris attaching themselves to it. Every non-aerodynamic rubble matters.
Bruno is an avid sailor and the spokesperson for the LV Cup, a diehard sailor who spent a year with his wife and kids on a sailboat between Europe and the Caribbean and USA. Not too many can claim this love of the sea! We pull along the Chinese, Prada and Oracle boats to see them cheered as they are towed out of the harbour in a flotilla of tugs, support boats and speedboats. Back on land on the stunning David Chipperfield building commissioned for this event, we quickly jump onto the LV yacht to follow the sailboats on the Mediterranean Sea, where the races will begin at 1 pm.
Two boats run the course at a time. It’s a fun motley crew. Tikka Shatrujit Singh (the Indian representative for LV), I and some members of the LV team are on board while model Deepika Padukone is being photographed by Vishesh Varma exclusively for Verve. Malaika Arora Khan is being photographed in a combination of Versace and LV. Eiesha Mittal(daughter of Sunil Mittal and guest of LV)and Cynthia Wu(daughter of a Chinese real estate baron) make the fun table with Celia Von Bismark(German royalty)and Tikka. Champagne, sushi starters and a delicious assortment is served while the boats race around the markers. This is round robin 2 out of which the four semi finalists will be chosen, leading to the finals where the last Cup holder - in this case, Switzerland - will be challenged. The winner keeps the Cup and chooses the next location. Switzerland selected Valencia in Spain, a simple fact that will transform Valencia’s life forever, already evident from the development that has preceded the Cup and will continue to transform this amazing convention city. New marinas, luxury hotels and restaurants have put this city on the map forever.
Meanwhile, helicopters drone overhead, filming the sail boats while this is digitally fed through new technology on to flat screens where, at a push of a button, the boats can be viewed from every angle with relative distances and exact distances and courses mapped out to the closest meter. Incredible! Meanwhile, Deepika who was getting photographed, windblown and sea sick at the same time in a billowing muslin and tulle summer dress, had to be bundled onto a dinghy and sent back. The girls in the Indian contingent needed to get back on land where their wobbly legs could recuperate faster than a baby gazelle to take them shopping immediately!

Day 2: More races, thrills
For those of you who’ve lost my rambling plot, we are all at the LV Cup in Valencia, Spain. One of the world’s greatest sporting spectacles, every last stream line matters as it is standard practice to pare down each structural member and build within tenths of millimeters on the boats. This is the precision needed for the boats to slice through the ocean - the boats are harboured in Europe’s first purpose-built America’s Cup venue between Valencia’s La Malvarrossa Beach and the Mediterranean’s busiest port. Twelve teams, 42 super yachts (learn India learn!)
Supported by the King of Spain through sponsors such as LV, Prada, Luna Rossa, Tag Heuer and more, this sport of inspirational ‘navigation’ is favoured by luxury brands because it requires dynamic teamwork, a passion for excellence and real spirit. Eleven teams battle to win the LV Cup and become the challenger for the Auld Mug (the trophy of the America’s Cup).
The defender in this case, the Swiss team (which won in New Zealand four years back) will fight the winners, and here the finest minds in yachting with the finest boats, skippers who are advised and coaxed by navigators and trimmers are collectively carrying the expectations of hundreds of thousands of man hours in practice. The variables are the wind and the sea. Even the freshness of the sail makes a difference in the performance. Every detail matters.
I get a bit of time to relax and visit the charming, bustling old port of Valencia. Almost Spanish-tropical with its love for colour and palms of all shapes, it’s a far cry from the new marina destined to become one of the big convention centres in Europe. Since the afternoon heat is searing, a siesta or a spa is where everyone rests in preparation for the party. Meanwhile, the second day of frenetic sailing is on – Tikka, Eiesha, Gail and I traipse from churches to museums.

No one except the organisers knows where the party is tonight. Whether it is to keep out the paparazzi or the locals (the desperate groupies get there anyway) everyone assembles downstairs for cocktails and their special VIP wrist bands – also the ticket to the VIP enclosures. Hair dressers and make-up artists fly around hysterically. Where is Preity Zinta? Eiesha is also missing from her room and Deepika and Malaika are already shooting in the lobby. The long convoy of black Mercedes speed along the coast and arrive at an abandoned monastery along a hill.

In the first courtyard, flamenco dancers lure you into the dome, where in a glass box, two dancers perform a stylised dual over the LV cup. Stunning. Gliding on through dull flame-licked corridors, we arrive in the main courtyard, which feels like stepping on one of the tiered terraced gardens of the fabled Babylon Gardens – fountains, levels, and water curtains, upon which the LV logo is subtly projected, and an ambience of magic in lilac and amber washes under the Mediterranean sky. A special VIP enclosure under sail-like structures was the meeting point where everyone came, met, raised their first champagne toasts and moved on. Rebecca and Yves Carcelle (President and CEO, LV), Ness Wadia, Preity Zinta, Rita Barbera Nolla (the Mayor of Valencia), Celia Von Bismark, Eiesha cavort to a spectacular disco band, full of energy and vitality.

This was the LV night where 2000 people swarmed around the courtyards and verandas, getting dizzier and more frenetic as the night went on. Christine Bélanger has transformed this derelict monastery for one night of revelry and created magic, even rebuilding parts of the crumbling walls in fibre glass to look like the original. Preity says it feels like being on a movie set. It was superb.

In Paris the next evening, we are greeted by an indefatigable Yves Carcelle who has barely slept an hour, had a board meeting and is now welcoming guests again at the Paris flagship of LV. This time the exhibition is on Space Installations, where seven artists, videographers exhibit their works of art. The star exhibit is by Philippe Starck, the well-known French designer. Space, the micro-mini luggage to be carried on Virgin galactic. Space, where LV is for their ability to think light years ahead. Space, the next frontier for travel.”