Royal Visit for 2015 ISAF Team Racing World Championship

Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal, President of the Royal Yachting Association, will visit the 2015 ISAF Team Racing World Championship at Rutland © Mike Steele

Sailing teams from around the World will join battle in the 2015 ISAF Team Racing World Championship at Rutland Sailing Club, Rutland Water, from the 19-24 July 2015.

Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal, President of the Royal Yachting Association, will visit the event on Monday, 20 July, and attend 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.

Event Director David Wilkins says: "We're currently expecting some 24 teams from Australia, Bermuda, Canada, Great Britain, Ireland, Italy, Japan and USA, plus an ASAF (Asian Sailing Federation) team comprising Indian, Malaysian, Japanese and Hong Kong sailors.

"This ISAF (International Sailing Federation) Grade 1 event is the pinnacle of international dinghy team racing. Races are very short at around 12 minutes and can be action packed and spectacular. Spectators are very welcome at Rutland Sailing Club during the event.

"The top sailors competing are often World and national dinghy champions in their own right. Many will have sailed for university and collegiate teams and have already represented their countries at international level."

The competition will have Open and Under 19 divisions and the top three teams in each section will be awarded ISAF championship medals.

The British GBR 1 team will be the West Kirby Hawks, who are the current World Champions and have recently re-formed to defend their title. The GBR 2 team will be the Royal Forth Hoosiers, who are the reigning UK National Champions, and the GBR 3 team is from Bristol University.

Magdalen College School, Oxford, Sevenoaks School, Kent and West Kirby Sailing Club on the Wirral make up the British Under 19 teams.

Each team comprises three boats with two crew per boat and at at least one male and one female competitor per team, and the competition will be sailed in Firefly dinghies.

Andy Cornah of West Kirby Hawks says: "It feels good going into the 2015 Worlds as defending champions. Things have gone well for us since we re-formed, winning the trials and recently the Wilson Trophy. We are hoping to bank on our experiences of the last three worlds and with it being a 5 day event we hope we can improve as we go along and be on our A game for the final stages - ultimately we are just going to try and enjoy it!"

Martin Sutcliffe, Chairman of Rutland Sailability, says of the visit: "Rutland Sailability is highly honoured to have Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal visit us in this our twentieth anniversary year. We are also looking forward to having the opportunity to show her our longboat called the 'Penny Wake' sailing on Rutland Water. This boat was named by Her Royal Highness at the London Boat Show in 2014."

David Wilkins concludes on the team racing event: "Special thanks go to our sponsors. And of course, a big thank you to all our volunteer helpers."

Principal sponsors are The Royal Yachting Association, Rondar Raceboats (providing two flights of Firefly dinghies), Allen Brothers (British manufacturer of performance dinghy hardware), Oakley (sunglasses) and Rooster (chandlery).

Other sponsors include: Old Pulteney, Harken, Zhik, Gill Marine, Selden, Barnsdale Hall Hotel, Redwings Lodge, Berridge Taxis, Sevenoaks School, West Kirby Sailing Club, Anglian Water and Rutland Tourism. Additional flights of boats are being loaned by Oakham, Oundle and Uppingham Schools and Rutland Sailing Club.

A 'Virtual 2015 ISAF Team Racing Championship', hosted by SailX, will also be run in conjunction with the real event.

Live video coverage of the racing will be available on YouTube along with GPS tracking provided by SailRacer.

For breaking news and race results, follow Twitter @ISAFupdates and @Rutland2015. Use Twitter hashtag #TRWC to participate in the conversation throughout the championship.

For more information please visit www.rutlandteamracing.org.uk

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