The Bermuda International Keelboat Regatta will feature teams from Canada, the United States and Britain taking on the best that Bermuda can offer.

Seven teams will compete over three days in the Great Sound, with the new FarEast28 fleet imported by the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club getting another workout just a couple of weeks after being used for the first time at the Bermuda Gold Cup.

A nine-race series is planned for the FarEast fleet, while the Etchells field will compete over six races on Saturday and Sunday, and the RS21s racing three times on Sunday.

Royal Thames Yacht Club and Imperial Poona Yacht Club will represent Britain, with Oakville Yacht Club flying the Canada flag and Constitution Yacht Club representing the US.

An interesting Bermuda boat to watch will be crewed mostly by the Kempe family with RBYC commodore Hal Kempe, Somers Kempe, the rear commodore of International Sailing, and Sebastian Kempe, who is masterminding an Olympic campaign in the ILCA 7.

But family harmony is not expected on the boat with Sebastian Kempe laughing heartily when his father Somers was asked about unity on board.

“There could be some words,” Somers Kempe said. “We’re not going to mic up, that's for sure, but we generally get along well.

“But this regatta is one of the reasons why we brought the boats here, so we can continue to put Bermuda on the world stage and put Bermuda in the minds of sailors around the world.

“We can invite overseas visitors to come and experience sailing in the marina on a level playing field and these boats should stand up well to that use.

“It's a boat that is available globally and there are a few here and there spread around the world, but there's not a lot of strict class racing in them yet. But for a regatta like this, where you can invite eight teams to come down and have fun racing against each other, it’s an ideal platform.”

Kempe expects the racing to be competitive with a number of star names competing, although the weather may need to play ball to get all the racing in.

“Brad Boston’s been here for the Viper 640 Worlds that I ran in 2016 and there are a few pros sprinkled throughout the fleet that have all sailed boats similar in set-up to this, Kempe said.

“They are quickly going to dial the boat in and be competitive, so I’m almost certain that there will not be a runaway winner in the Far East fleet.

“I think we’re all going to have fun this weekend and as for the weather it’s just about better than no wind at all.

“Friday's probably the only day that we need to stay open-minded about, but the rest of the weekend looks great. The visiting teams have all had a great practice session and got to grips a little bit with the boats.”