Small trophy, big dreams, astonishing weekending since 1949.
The Wilson Trophy is widely regarded as the premier team racing event in the world, attracting some of the world’s most skilled exponents of the discipline, along with many fleet racing and match racing world champions and Olympians.
The Wilson Trophy is held annually in May, taking place at the ‘theatre of dreams’ that is West Kirby Marine Lake. The venue is perfectly suited to team racing with (usually) uninterrupted winds blowing across the Dee Estuary with racing taking place meters from the shore, complimented by commentary and a grandstand for spectators. This is the stadium racing that so many other disciplines are trying to re-create but West Kirby have been doing it and doing it well for nearly 70 years.
The Wilson Trophy is a phenomenal event on the water with typically close to 300 races being run over the two and a half day event but it is equally well regarded for its off the water activities where long standing friendships are rekindled from around the world and the infamous Wilson dinner which now always includes a mystery guest speaker, the awarding of the Joyce Evans Trophy to the crew deemed most worthy and the now traditional singing of Jerusalem lead by Wilson stalwarts the Southampton Male Voice Choir. Fierce racing, fiercer socials and the 8am start times on Saturday and Sunday really make for one unforgettable event. This year the event is also going to be captured by VR Sport and a new website is set to be launched which will hopefully stream races and video content live from the event along with up to date race results.