Here are some links to information about the Wilson Trophy, recently won by Team Extreme with Race Coordinator Melanie Roberts as a member of the team.
West Kirby Sailing Club Website (this place is awesome, I highly reccommend sailing there):
http://www.wksc.net
Wilson Trophy microsite:
http://www.wksc.net/wilsontrophy/
Regatta Report from Team Roberts/Martin (Melanie's brother's Olympic Campaign):
http://www.teamrobertsmartin.com/blog/post/show/id/25-Wilson-Trophy
Photos from Sailing Scuttlebutt:
http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/10/0510/
St. Francis Team Racing
Friday, May 14, 2010
St.FYC Race Coordinator Melanie Roberts wins the Wilson Trophy!
Team Racing fans,
One of our very own, St. Francis Race Coordinator Melanie Roberts was invited to sail in the Wilson Trophy at West Kirby Sailing Club just outside of Liverpool, UK. The Wilson Trophy is the British Open Team Racing Championship and is considered one of the 3 biggest team races in all of the world (the others being The US Team Racing Championships or Hinman and The Team Race Worlds). Winning this event is an amazing accomplishment!
Here is a write-up she submitted to the blog:
"May 7‐9, 2010 was the 61st Wilson Trophy at the West Kirby Sailing Club (WKSC). Thirty two teams were accepted to this event from England, Ireland and the United States. Hands down this was the most impressive event I have ever experienced, with over 350 races run in three days. I sailed on Team Extreme, crewing for Adam Roberts, teaming up with Stu McNay, Abby Coplin, Zach Brown and Emmett Smith.
The first race started at 1pm on Friday, and we were allotted an hour of practice in the morning. We raced six races that afternoon and had won them all, at least we thought. When we arrived back at our host family's house, we were called back to WKSC. One of the teams we had raced against, the West Kirby Hawks, had filed for redress claiming gear failure, which resulted in us needing to re‐sail the race first thing the next day.
Saturday’s re‐sail against the Hawks did not go well, but right after we had another race that went much better for us. I looked at my watch at 8:30am and thought it was amazing that we had already sailed two races, which was something I definitely have not done before! The rest of the day went well; we won most of our races but did have three rough ones. The format worked in a way to naturally seed the teams, so the better record you had, the harder the teams you would have to face. This made all of the races extremely challenging as there were several really good teams. We ended the day at the top of the leader board with a 13‐3 record, but the standings were super close with the next team 12‐4 and then the next four teams 11‐5.
We were the first race again on Sunday, scheduled to start at 8am. It took a while for the breeze to fill in, so we didn't end up starting until 9:30am. We continued racing in the Swiss League completing five races, and then began the quarter finals. The quarter finals were a best of three knock out series between the top eight teams. We first raced Wessex Exempt, who we had lost a race to earlier in the day. They beat us the first race, but we managed to win the next two which advanced us to the semi finals. In the semis we faced the NYYC team and beat them twice to qualify for the finals against the home team, the West Kirby Hawks. The finals were a best of five series, and the winner was the first team to take three races. After recovering from some very challenging pre‐start and first beat situations, we managed to sail into solid winning combinations by the finish of each race. It was very exciting to win such an outstanding event!
This regatta was an organizational masterpiece; I was truly amazed all weekend. Races and rotations happened quickly and efficiently, with six sets of equally matched and color coded Firefly dinghies, allowing 12 teams to be on the water at any given point. The folks at West Kirby Sailing Club worked very hard to make everything run smoothly, and it really showed.
It was incredible to see the entire town so lit up about this regatta; it was truly a spectacle. The lake the sailing was held was the perfect amphitheater for this type event. The course was set as close as possible to shore and thousands of people came out view the racing. Grandstand seating was set up and a live expert commentator kept the crowd up to speed on what was happening in the races. I couldn’t believe the amount of people along the waterfront cheering (or booing at us), it certainly had the feel of a popular sporting event! I was extremely impressed by the whole thing and hope to see team racing championships get to this level in the US.
WKSC also did a fabulous job with the off‐the‐water activities. There was a band and dinner on Friday night, and a formal banquet on Saturday, with a band playing after as well. They also provided accommodations for over one hundred people between all the teams and umpires. Our host family was extremely generous to us and it was neat to see them so excited to watch the event."
Thank you Melanie for a great write up and CONGRATULATIONS!
Stay tuned,
St. Francis Team Racing
One of our very own, St. Francis Race Coordinator Melanie Roberts was invited to sail in the Wilson Trophy at West Kirby Sailing Club just outside of Liverpool, UK. The Wilson Trophy is the British Open Team Racing Championship and is considered one of the 3 biggest team races in all of the world (the others being The US Team Racing Championships or Hinman and The Team Race Worlds). Winning this event is an amazing accomplishment!
Here is a write-up she submitted to the blog:
"May 7‐9, 2010 was the 61st Wilson Trophy at the West Kirby Sailing Club (WKSC). Thirty two teams were accepted to this event from England, Ireland and the United States. Hands down this was the most impressive event I have ever experienced, with over 350 races run in three days. I sailed on Team Extreme, crewing for Adam Roberts, teaming up with Stu McNay, Abby Coplin, Zach Brown and Emmett Smith.
The first race started at 1pm on Friday, and we were allotted an hour of practice in the morning. We raced six races that afternoon and had won them all, at least we thought. When we arrived back at our host family's house, we were called back to WKSC. One of the teams we had raced against, the West Kirby Hawks, had filed for redress claiming gear failure, which resulted in us needing to re‐sail the race first thing the next day.
Saturday’s re‐sail against the Hawks did not go well, but right after we had another race that went much better for us. I looked at my watch at 8:30am and thought it was amazing that we had already sailed two races, which was something I definitely have not done before! The rest of the day went well; we won most of our races but did have three rough ones. The format worked in a way to naturally seed the teams, so the better record you had, the harder the teams you would have to face. This made all of the races extremely challenging as there were several really good teams. We ended the day at the top of the leader board with a 13‐3 record, but the standings were super close with the next team 12‐4 and then the next four teams 11‐5.
We were the first race again on Sunday, scheduled to start at 8am. It took a while for the breeze to fill in, so we didn't end up starting until 9:30am. We continued racing in the Swiss League completing five races, and then began the quarter finals. The quarter finals were a best of three knock out series between the top eight teams. We first raced Wessex Exempt, who we had lost a race to earlier in the day. They beat us the first race, but we managed to win the next two which advanced us to the semi finals. In the semis we faced the NYYC team and beat them twice to qualify for the finals against the home team, the West Kirby Hawks. The finals were a best of five series, and the winner was the first team to take three races. After recovering from some very challenging pre‐start and first beat situations, we managed to sail into solid winning combinations by the finish of each race. It was very exciting to win such an outstanding event!
This regatta was an organizational masterpiece; I was truly amazed all weekend. Races and rotations happened quickly and efficiently, with six sets of equally matched and color coded Firefly dinghies, allowing 12 teams to be on the water at any given point. The folks at West Kirby Sailing Club worked very hard to make everything run smoothly, and it really showed.
It was incredible to see the entire town so lit up about this regatta; it was truly a spectacle. The lake the sailing was held was the perfect amphitheater for this type event. The course was set as close as possible to shore and thousands of people came out view the racing. Grandstand seating was set up and a live expert commentator kept the crowd up to speed on what was happening in the races. I couldn’t believe the amount of people along the waterfront cheering (or booing at us), it certainly had the feel of a popular sporting event! I was extremely impressed by the whole thing and hope to see team racing championships get to this level in the US.
WKSC also did a fabulous job with the off‐the‐water activities. There was a band and dinner on Friday night, and a formal banquet on Saturday, with a band playing after as well. They also provided accommodations for over one hundred people between all the teams and umpires. Our host family was extremely generous to us and it was neat to see them so excited to watch the event."
Thank you Melanie for a great write up and CONGRATULATIONS!
Stay tuned,
St. Francis Team Racing
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