ISAF Team Racing Worlds – Two days to go

by ISAF on 18 Jul 2015 Rutland will see the return of the ISAF Team Racing World Championship to Great Britain where the championship will be held on 19-24 July.

Since the first time the title was contested in West Kirby in 1995, the tenth edition will be the first time the regatta will have been sailed in the waters of Great Britain since then.

The home team of West Kirby, the West Kirby Hawks, won the inaugural title and look strong again ahead of the 2015 championship competing as the Great British first team. They are competing off the back of winning the 2015 Wilson Trophy, the annual international team racing regatta, in May.

There will also be pressure on the Great British teams to retain the gold in both the Open and Youth Divisions that they won in the 2011 edition in Schull, Ireland, the last time the Team Racing Worlds was contested.

The youth teams of Ireland will also be looking for a good result and will be determined to turn the tables on the Great British team who denied them a gold in their home regatta.

The USA will be looking to improve upon their silver and bronze of 2011, and always fair well having won gold on five occasions and sending strong sailors, such as Stu Mcnay who won gold at the last ISAF Sailing World Cup in Weymouth and Portland.

There will also be a first in Rutland when a combined team will sail. Teams represent their MNAs (Member National Authorities), but for the first time there will be a combined team of MNAs from Asia. India, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Japan will join together to represent the ASAF (Asian Sailing Federation).

The ISAF Team Racing Worlds will be sailed over five days from 19-24 July in Firefly dinghies provided by sponsor Rondar Raceboats and with Oakham and Uppingham Schools and Rutland Sailing Club also kindly loaning their fleets.

Races are very short, approximately six minutes, and can be action packed and spectacular. Each team comprises of three boats with two crew per boat - with at least one male and one female competitor per team.

The races will culminate in the top three teams from the Open and Under 19 Divisions being awarded ISAF World Championship medals.

Rutland will also see HRH The Princess Royal, President of the Royal Yachting Association, attending the Championship on Monday, 20 July in a reception to mark the 20th anniversary of the founding of Rutland Sailability, which provides sailing for disabled people of all ages, in her capacity as Patron of the RYA Foundation.