Match racing action returns to Hamilton Harbour on Saturday with the 2009 Bermuda National Match Racing Championship for the Bacardi® Cup.

The Royal Bermuda Yacht Club will host the annual Grade 5 match racing event, with the first race scheduled to begin at 9am in Hamilton Harbour just off the RBYC marina.

Up to eight Bermuda skippers were invited to participate and five have accepted the invitation. The teams will sail the same International One Design (IOD) boats that are used in October for the Argo Group Gold Cup and the winner of the Bermuda National Championship will earn an automatic invitation to that famous Grade 1 event that is the ninth stage of ten-event World Match Racing Tour.

Skippers competing in the 2009 Bermuda National Match Racing Championship are father and son BW 'Jordy' Walker, Blythe Walker, Paula Lewin Crews, Lance Fraser and Ben Nichols. Blythe Walker and top female skipper Paula Lewin Crews have already been invited to sail for the King Edward VII Gold Cup Trophy in the Argo Group Gold Cup this year. If another skipper wins the Bermuda Championship, three Bermuda skippers will be invited to that big dance.

The five teams sail a round-robin competition where each skipper will sail a two-boat match against each other skipper once. The skipper who has the greatest number of points shall be the Bermuda Sailing Association Bermuda National Match Racing Champion and put their name on the prestigious Bacardi Cup for 2009.