The Royal Bermuda Yacht Club has been invited to compete in the second New York Yacht Club Invitational Cup, which will be sailed in Newport, Rhode Island, from September 10-17.

Last year during the inaugural regatta, Bermuda finished a respectable sixth overall.

Going into the last two races in seventh, skipper Mark Watson and the crew of Tiburon had finishes of 12 and ninth to end on 95 points, 15 points behind Royal Cork in fifth.

Sailing with Watson were crewmembers that included Bermuda four-time Olympian Peter Bromby onboard as tactician as well as Peter Henderson (spinnaker trimmer), Kevin Horsfield, Ben Nicholls (mainsail trimmer) and Will Thompson (bow).

The cup was won by the home team who, despite only winning one of the 11 races of the week's racing, triumphed because they finished in the top three on seven occasions, and never finished lower than tenth.

This week David K. Elwell Jr., commodore of the New York Yacht Club (NYYC), announced that the club has invited 26 pre-eminent American yacht clubs to compete for places in the second Invitational Cup.

Commodore Elwell explained that a number of yacht clubs in the United States had expressed interest in competing in the inaugural event held last September.

"This invitation for a US Qualifying Series is in response to that interest," he said. The Qualifying Series will be held in Newport on September 8-11, 2010.

The initial list of invited American yacht clubs are American in Rye, NY; Annapolis; Bayview in Detroit and Little Traverse in Harbor Springs, Michigan; Boston and Eastern in Marblehead, Massachusetts; Carolina in Charleston, South Carolina; Chicago; Fishing Bay in Deltaville, Virginia; Fort Worth Boat Club; Houston; Ida Lewis in Newport, Rhode Island; Indian Harbor, Pequot and Stamford in Connecticut; Larchmont, Rochester and Seawanhaka Corinthian, also in New York; Long Beach, Newport Harbor and San Diego in Southern California; St. Francis and San Francisco in Northern California; Southern in New Orleans; St. Petersburg in Florida; and Seattle.

The top three US teams from this qualifying series will receive invitations to the Invitational Cup, where they will join the top six teams from 2009 – New York, Royal Canadian, Japan Sailing Federation, Nyländska Jaktklubben of Finland; Royal Cork of Ireland and the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club, plus at least 10 other international teams, to be invited in the spring of 2010.

Last summer during the first Invitational Cup, there were 19 amateur yacht club teams from 14 nations competing in chartered NYYC Swan 42s at Harbour Court, the NYYC's on-the-water clubhouse in Newport, Rhode Island.

Competitors had to be members of the yacht club and nationals of the country represented. The 2009 event saw teams from Japan, Germany, Finland, Spain, Bermuda, Canada, Ireland (two), Denmark, Hong Kong, New Zealand, England (three), Italy (two), France and the United States (two), including the host and eventual winner, the NYYC.

The racers were impressed, as was the yachting press. Said Leonardo Ferragamo, head of the team from Finland's Nyländska Jaktklubben: "This event is a lighthouse in the world of sailing."