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Thank you to the Newport Harbor Sailing Foundation for the support at the 2023 Wilson Trophy. The Wilson Trophy is hosted annually across the pond in West Kirby, England. The event is a 3v3 team race in Firefly boats. There were 32 teams coming from the USA, UK, and Ireland.
The West Kirby Sailing Club is a beautiful sailing club located on River Dee just outside of Liverpool. The river Dee has such extreme tides that in the morning the water reaches the club, but by the evening, it is a half mile walk out to the water. Due to the extreme tides, the Wilson Trophy is sailed on Marine Lake, which is a small lake that the club also has direct access to. As Marine Lake is very small, the conditions are great for dinghy team racing. The water is always flat, rotations are extremely quick and easy, and the spectating is as close to stadium seating as sailing can get.
This was my first time sailing the Wilson Trophy, but it will most certainly not be my last. The club does a fantastic job of balancing a well-run regatta with fun social activities. The ‘Swiss League’ team race format was developed at the Wilson Trophy, and it has become a very popular format for team racing across the world. This format allows more teams, more races, and more fun. This year’s Wilson Trophy reached an unbelievable 290 races over two and a half days. The first phase of racing is a round robin with all 32 teams, then the top 8 sail in a best of 3 knock out series to solidify the final four. The final four also runs a best of 3 knock out series, and the two winners meet in a best of 5 knock out finals. Our team fought hard to come out of the initial round robin in first place, we then made it through the top eight and final four to arrive at the finals against another American team. In the finals, we unfortunately lost our mojo and gave up the gold to the East Coast Drifters.
Our team was so fond of this event, the competitors, and the hosts. We will most certainly be back next year (if they will have us) and will be coming back to secure the gold this time. Thank you again to NHSF for making our trip to the 2023 Wilson Trophy possible.