Duchess Catherine goes nautical, visits Portsmouth

Baby on board! Catherine, the duchess of Cambridge, fulfilled a few maritime duties on Thursday when she arrived in Portsmouth.

There, the British royal, who is expecting her second child in April, paid a visit to the construction site of the new Ben Ainslie Racing headquarters and visitor center in Southern England and took in the view from the area’s iconic Spinnaker Tower.

It appears that the 32-year-old royal took Thursday’s nautical-themed duties literally when getting dressed that day. With just a couple of months left in her pregnancy, the duchess donned a sailboat-printed dress from Alice Temperley Somerset for John Lewis under a cream Max Mara coat. The curve of her belly was the most pronounced it’s been in recent weeks.

The former Kate Middleton toured the facility with team captain Ben Ainslie and learned about the sailing team’s bid in the America’s Cup. She sampled their new technology by trying out a winch simulator in Spinnaker Tower and looked out a virtual rig with their 3-D simulator.

As her hosts are wont to do, the team presented Kate with a miniature version of the Ben Ainslie Racing team jersey for her firstborn, Prince George.

Catherine also met with local kids and members of the 1851 Trust, which works to inspire and develop younger generations through sailing and the marine industry. She’s a patron of the nonprofit.

In November, the trust unveiled its massive mural painted by 72 schoolchildren from Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight that featured their mutual Solent waters.

The artwork was overseen by street artists James Waterfield and My Dog Sighs, and Catherine and Ainslie added their own artistic flourishes to the mural during their visit and painted the team’s AC45 boat, which will race off Portsmouth and Southsea seafront in July 2015 and 2016.

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