He is literally one of shipping’s greybeards now, but he is looking at a comeback all the same.

The whiskers on Mike Hudner’s face are fairly new; the hairs on his head, at an age he calls “35 twice”, not so much.

Since 2013, Hudner has had the vexing distinction of being a shipowner without ships. It doesn’t sit well with him and he is plotting a return from offices in a converted sail loft in the boating mecca of Bristol, Rhode Island, half an hour up the Narragansett Bay from longtime America’s Cup venue Newport.