Bermuda’s sailors will be out to prove that they can “hold their own” at this month’s 2015 ISAF Team Racing World Championship in Rutland, England.

Flying the Island’s banner at the Grade 1 regatta, regarded as the pinnacle of international dinghy team racing, are team captain Emily Nagel, siblings Jordan and Jason Saints, Joshua Greenslade and Connor Astwood.

“We are eager to show the world that Bermudians can hold their own not only in fleet racing but team racing as well,” Nagel, the 2014 FISU Womens Match Racing World Champion, said.

“We have all been busy training in earnest anticipation of the event in which Bermuda has never been represented before.”

The 2015 ISAF Team Racing Championships, being hosted by the Rutland Sailing Club, will take place July 19-24 and will feature as many as 24 teams from Australia, Bermuda, Canada, Great Britain, Ireland, Italy, Japan and USA as well as an Asian Sailing Federation team comprising of Indian, Malaysian, Hong Kong and Japanese sailors.

The event will comprise of Open and Under 19 divisions, with the top three teams in each division being awarded medals. Each team comprises of three boats with at least one male and one female competitor per team.

All sailing will be held on Rutland Water, one of the biggest inland lakes in Europe, in the double handed Firefly dinghy which tack and gybe easily and plane in winds reaching 15mph.

West Kirby Hawks, one of two teams representing hosts Great Britain this year, are the defending champions.

That Bermuda is competing at the event for the first time owes partly to the funding raised by America’s Cup legend Dennis Conner to send a team to the UK.

“It takes money to fly around and compete at international level, so I tried to raise some money so they can go and compete worldwide and raise their game to be more competitive,” Conner, the multiple America’s Cup winner, said.

*Brett Wright continued his steady form at the 2015 Laser Masters World Championship in Kingston, Ontario yesterday.

After five races the veteran sailor was seventh among the 36 boat Laser Radial Grand Master Fleet with two top five finishes under his belt.