Those that follow Grand Prix Racing know that races often become processional, with results predicatable barring mechanical failure, driver error or pit stop delays. What would happen if the cars were completely identical and the results dependant purely on dirver ability? Well, in the sailing world we have just that at West Kirby - identical boats, sails and equipment - making racing a true test of the skills of the helmsman and crews. Additionally, we have dinghies racing in teams of three boats, sailing to achieve the best overall team results. The hull and sailing of each boat in a team are the same colour, so you can see immediately what the positions are. Each Team tries to reach a winning combination of places - the lowest score wins.

The scoring system is:

A team that scores ten points or less is the winners, so that 2nd, 3rd, 4th beats 1st, 5th, 6th - begin first does not gurantee glory! If a team is lying say 1-4-6, the leading boat will go back and try to help his team mates through to 2-3-5 or better.

The team racer has two main weapons. Firstly he can position his boat between the wind and his opponent, thus blanketing his sails and motive power. Secondly, he can use the right of way rules to his advantage, approaching the other boat in such a way that it has to change course or incur a penalty. Both these weapons are deployed even before the start when you will see the manoevres begin.

To start,, boats must cross an imaginary line between the start launch and a nearby bouy at the end of a four minute countdown indicated by the digital display and the sound signals. They then sail a designated course followed by inflatables who penalise any infringements by  making competitors do penalty turns. After the designated number of laps they pass through the same line to finish.

Ideally the crew should comprise a racing helmsman, an expert agile crewman, a navigator, a tactician, a meterorlogist and a lawyer, but with that lot on board a Firefly would barely float. So it is nessesary to manage with just two combining the attributes of the others. This competition is therefore a great test of skills, experience, training and nerves. Chess on the water played by stock car drivers!

Team racing is widely enjoyed in the UK in clubs, schools and universities and the premier annual competition that brings them together is the Wilson Trophy, held each year at West Kirby for 50 years. Many of the team racing rules and ideas such as the colour co-ordinated boats were developed here.