After three days of trials nine sailors have been selected to represent the British University Sailing Association as they tour America in a bid to defend their title.

The BUSA tour of America takes place once every four years and it brings together the cream of British university sailors. Past team members have included, Ian Walker, Lawrie Smith, Mark Campbell-James, Ian Williams, and Andy Green so competition for the places was always going to be tough.

Over 30 students turned up at Bough Beach for the first half of the trials, which was team racing in 420s. A group of selectors then whistled down the 30 sailors to just 15 before journeying over to Cowes for the yacht racing after which a team was chosen. Traditionally BUSA have sent eight sailors over to the US but unable to decide between two very promising sailors the selectors decided that taking nine students would be feasible.

The team who are due to fly out at the end of August include captain, Mark Lees, GBR Challenge team member, John Clifton, Andrew Cornah, Andrew Bryson, Jamie Reid, Chris Martin, Ian Martin, Sam Carter and Dave Cheshire. This team includes sailors who specialise in certain mediums of sailing, as the Trophy matches include team racing in keelboats and dinghy’s, match racing and fleet racing.

The team will tour up the coast of America fighting it out in four Trophy matches against the American All Stars and in between will participate in the National College Series. The majority of Ivy League universities employ a full time sailing coach so the team expect no easy ride and subsequently have begun training immediately. Currently BUSA are looking for sponsorship so that they may also take out a coach to America, ensuring that a win is inevitable.