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Silver Panda (USA) winners of 59th Wilson Trophy
www.wksc.net/wilsontrophy @ Mon May 12 11:44:00 +0100 2008
Glorious weekend of team racing on West Kirby’s marine lake
American team ‘Silver Panda’ this weekend won the 59th Wilson Trophy, hosted by West Kirby Sailing Club, Wirral. Sailing in an all-American final against ‘Larchmont YC’, ‘Silver Panda’ won the world’s premier Team Racing sailing event with three straight wins in a best of five final. With hundreds of spectators watching from the grandstand beside the Marine Lake in glorious sunshine, West Kirby Sailing Club once more put on a superb event, with over 200 races completed with military precision over two days.
32 teams, including teams from the USA, Canada and Ireland as well as all over Great Britain competed for the 59th Wilson Trophy, the world’s premier Team Racing sailing event. The competition, known as the British Open Team Racing Championships, has long attracted the best team racing teams in the world to travel hundreds of miles to compete.
Two very tight semi finals saw two home West Kirby teams, the ‘West Kirby HAWKS’ and ‘West Kirby SC’ competing against the two eventual finalists. With each semi final going to three races, in a best of three race series, the true calibre of the teams racing at the Wilson Trophy was on show for all to see.
The annual event, which first took place in 1947 is sailed in two-man Firefly dinghies, provided by West Kirby Sailing Club. The boats, which are matched trios of colour-coded dinghies, make spectating from the grandstand beside the Marine Lake easy, with expert commentary provided. Each of the boats are kindly sponsored by several locally-based companies, such as Buckley Industrial, as well as global companies such as Carlsberg and Musto. After a round robin in which all of the teams raced against one another, the weekend culminated in the top eight teams taking part in the quarter finals, with winners going through to semis, followed by finals. The identical boats, sails and equipment make team racing a true test of the sailors’ skills. Team racing has been likened to playing chess on the water, with crews using tactics and the rules of sailing to gain advantage over the opposing team.
Next year, the 60th annual Wilson Trophy will be hosted by West Kirby Sailing Club. The committee plans to run a three day celebratory event over the May Day Bank holiday weekend.
For more information, and live results, please visit: www.wksc.net/wilsontrophy
West Kirby to host premier sailing competition this weekend
www.wksc.net/wilsontrophy @ Fri May 09 09:10:00 +0100 2008
59th Wilson Trophy to be contested on Marine Lake
West Kirby Sailing Club, Wirral, will this weekend host the 59th Wilson Trophy, the world’s premier Team Racing sailing event. 32 teams, including teams from the USA, Canadaand Ireland as well as all over Great Britain will descend on the Marine Lake for the weekend, over which a staggering 300 races will take place.
The competition, known as the British Open Team Racing Championships, has long attracted the best team racing teams in the world to travel hundreds of miles to compete. Five of the world-class teams who competed at last year’s biannual World Team Racing Championships will be racing, as will the current World Champions, Silver Panda, who will also be defending the 2007 Wilson Trophy.
The annual event, which first took place in 1947 is sailed in two-man Firefly dinghies, provided by West Kirby Sailing Club. The boats, which are matched trios of colour-coded dinghies, make spectating from the grandstand beside the Marine Lake easy, with expert commentary provided. Each of the boats are kindly sponsored by several locally-based companies, such as Buckley Industrial, as well as global companies such as Carlsberg and Musto. After a round robin in which all of the teams will race against one another, the weekend culminates in the top eight teams taking part in the quarter finals, with winners going through to semis, followed by finals. The identical boats, sails and equipment make team racing a true test of the sailors skills. Team racing has been likened to playing chess on the water, with crews using tactics and the rules of sailing to gain advantages over the opposing team.
Two under-21 teams will take part in this year’s event, local team the Hilbre Highlanders and Cambridgeshire-based Grafham Gremlins. As well as attracting several international teams, there are four West-Kirby based teams taking part; the Wirral Waders, the West Kirby HAWKS, who competed at last year’s World Championships, West Kirby Sailing Club, headed up by local sailor Andy Bryson, and FPC, who include three well-known West Kirby team racers, Paul Kameen, Leo Dixon and Penny Robinson.
Next year, the 60th annual Wilson Trophy will be hosted by West Kirby Sailing Club. The committee plans to run a three day celebratory event over the May Day Bank holiday weekend.
This year’s first race is due to begin at 0800 Saturday 10th May, and will run through to the finals likely to be approximately 1500 Sunday 11th May.
For more information, and live results, please visit: www.wksc.net/wilsontrophy
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