Big guns in Staines

TeamOrigin hotshots to take part in the final qualifier of the 2009 RYA National Match Racing Series this weekend

Queen Mary Sailing Club in Staines throws open its doors to the best of British Match Racing talent this weekend, including double Olympic gold medallist Iain Percy and triple Olympic gold medallist Ben Ainslie, for the fourth and final qualifier of the 2009 RYA National Match Racing Series.

The series climaxes with the National Final next month (9-11 October) where crews will vie for Series victory and the ultimate title of 2009 RYA National Match Racing Champions.

Taking on the gold medal-winning duo and their two crew, Matt Cornwell and Olympic silver medallist Joe Glanfield, 11 other British crews will battle it out between each other in Saturday’s ten-flight round- robin stage of the event, after which the top four boats in each of the two groups go through to Sunday’s quarter- finals. Racing will be sailed in the RYA J80s in a ‘first to two points’ format, with Sunday’s quarters, semis and final matches switching to a knock-out format making for some exciting racing.

“The RYA National Match Racing Series is one of the biggest events of the match racing calendar and with the likes of Iain and Ben at event and this being the last chance to qualify for the finals, racing is going to be highly charged,” explained RYA Racing Manager John Derbyshire. “There are some very talented sailors and crews in the line up for the weekend so it’ll be interesting to see how they fair against Olympians.”

Open to any British crews, the event and series is a great opportunity for budding match racers to gain some invaluable experience.

Derbyshire continued: “With such a broad line up of sailors competing - some mixed men’s and women’s crews and relatively new sailors to the match racing scene, coupled with some of the best in the country – the event will be a great opportunity for the less experienced sailors to learn more about top level competition.”

The top GBR team from this weekend who hasn’t qualified for the event already will be invited to join the National Final line-up and compete for Series victory back at Queen Mary SC next month (9th-11th October).

The RYA Match Racing Series forms the first step towards elite match racing events including the America’s Cup and ISAF World Match Racing Tour. Top GBR match racer Ian Williams and Lucy Macgregor began their sailing careers competing in the series.
Spectators are welcome at the event. Race action starts at 09:30 and for more information visit here.