Property expert Graham Nash swapped real estate for racing yachts as he changed tack to play a frontline role in the America’s Cup in Portsmouth – and got to meet GB team hero Sir Ben Ainslie.
Graham, Property Manager based at commercial real estate advisors Hughes Ellard’s Fareham office, gave up a week of his time to volunteer at the event that attracted tens of thousands of spectators to the seafront.
The 52-year-old was part of a four-man team checking accreditation and handing out passes for representatives of the hundreds of TV, radio and newspaper representatives covering the global event, as well as contractors and exhibitors.
Graham, who lives in Portsmouth and expresses a ‘latent’ interest in sailing, said: “I wanted to do something for the city, to put something back in. It was great fun, a brilliant experience, sometimes challenging, and I met lots of people whose names and faces were familiar.”
The father-of-two became a Team Origins Wavemaker volunteer through an advert via the Shaping the Future of Portsmouth organisation, an affiliation of business people intent on supporting the ambitions and aspirations of the city.
Graham, who has worked on projects as varied as airports, shopping centres and motorway service areas in his 30 years in commercial real estate, said Sir Ben Ainslie, skipper of the Land Rover BAR Racing team, was full of praise for the 180 volunteers.
“He said he was grateful to people like us taking time off work to help and how it would be so difficult to run events without volunteers,” said Graham, who was on duty for up to 10 hours a day for six-and-a-half days.
He did, however, manage to see the first race as Sir Ben’s team successfully began a lengthy qualification process in an attempt to become the first British team to win the cup in 166 years in 2017.
Keen amateur thespian Graham, one of whose previous claims to fame was playing the viola in Land of Hope and Glory at the Royal Albert Hall in London as part of a youth orchestra, was on site during Sunday’s stormy weather when racing was abandoned.
He said: “It was a great shame, a huge anti-climax, but by 11 am we could see it was getting much worse. First the public areas were closed, then racing abandoned. We had to turn people away and explain to them we were not accrediting them as there was nothing to see.”
The America’s Cup roadshow moves on to Gothenburg in Sweden from August 28-30, but sadly Graham will not be there, but he said he would volunteer again if given the chance next year in Portsmouth.
