Bermuda will rest their title on the line as competition for one of the oldest team racing trophies makes a return in the Great Sound this weekend after a nearly two-decade-long absence.

Three local teams led by helmsmen Patrick Cooper, Kevin Horsfield and Ray DeSilva will try to defend the Amorita Cup against their counterparts from the Long Island Sound International One Design fleet competing in the classic racing sloop.

Cooper is a multiple Bermuda IOD fleet champion and DeSilva the class’s presiding president.

“The Bermuda IOD fleet is excited about renewing the Team Racing for the Amorita Cup against the Long Island Sound IOD fleet,” a Bermuda IOD class spokesman said.

“As the two original IOD class fleets we are continuing the tradition of team racing that started in 1939 when the Amorita Cup was first raced for in Bermuda.”

The local teams will have their work cut out against a US team boasting past IOD world champion Elliott Wisler who is sharing the helm with Jim Bishop Jr, son of legendary class and Newport Bermuda Race sailor Jim Bishop.

The visiting team also includes Jennifer Miller, who has been a mainstay in the Long Island Sound Fleet and follows in her father’s footsteps in her commitment to sailing in the class, and John Evans who comes in with momentum having placed third at the recent IOD North American Championships in Chester Nova Scotia.

The format for the two-day regatta which starts tomorrow will see three boats versus three in a best of seven race series.

The Amorita Cup is one of the oldest team racing trophies in existence having first been contested for in 1939 between the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club (now Bermuda team) and a United States team, with the race created specifically for the then new IOD class.

Frederick Hoyt, a renowned sailor from the Larchmont Yacht Club, deeded the showpiece in 1937.

The event was last held in 2004 with Bermuda emerging victorious after issuing a challenge to their American rivals.

Racing starts at 11am tomorrow and Sunday.