Wilson Trophy — 01 May '09

01 May –03 May

Widely regarded as the premier dinghy team racing event in the world

The 1st to the 3rd of May sees the 60th anniversary of the Wilson Trophy at West Kirby Sailing Club, known as the home of team racing. The club that introduced the first on the water umpires and many other innovations in team racing has turned the event into what is widely accepted as an 'unofficial world championships'.

The list of entries is formidable with including all the major UK universities and Alumni teams, the some of the most prestigious and respected UK and international sailing clubs including Royal Southern, Royal Lymington, Royal St George (IRL), New York Yacht Club (USA), Larchmont (USA), The Combined Services, Oxford and Cambrdige Sailing Society, Spinnaker as well as teams from Canada, the Czech Republic, and further teams from the UK and Ireland. The only notable absence is the World Champions Silver Panda from the USA.

West Kirby Sailing Club are well prepared as always with new boats (and a total of 30 matched fireflies) and 3 days of racing organised as well as rigging all of the boats, providing accomodation for all the competitors and putting on 3 socials that are bound to be outstanding.

The RTYC team  - who's entry is made possible by the academy and its generous benefactors  - are looking to improve on last year's quarter finals place and have 2 weekends of practise scheduled in.

The 2009 Royal Thames team is:

Jon Pinner and Ben Lister
Rob Style and Pippa Girling
Dave Royse and Nikki Russell

Good luck!

Check their progress here