Cooper 2nd At Youth North American Champs

Local youth Sunfish sailors Mackenzie Cooper [16] and Benn Smith [12] represented Bermuda at the 2011 Sunfish Youth North American Championships, hosted by the Barrington Yacht Club in Bartrington, RI on July 20th and 21st.

In the youth competition consisting of 15 boats, skippers must not have turned 19 before Jan 1 2012.The fleet experienced some strong winds on day 1 of the regatta and moderate breeze on the second day. After seven races Cooper finished second overall with a 2,2,2,2,8,1 and was able to drop a Did Not Finish in race six which was due to gear failure.

Photo below of Mackenzie Cooper courtesy of Rob Migliaccio:

Benn Smith, son of former World and North American Champion Malcolm Smith, did very well [6,12, 9,12,13,10,12] sailing
against a much older field, finishing in eleventh place overall. Smith is no stranger to heavy winds after winning the Comet Long Distance race last month crewing for skipper Rockal Evans in “survival conditions”.

The youth event is held just before the open Sunfish North Americans which will begin at the same venue on Friday the 22nd. That regatta will run through Sunday. Cooper will join the older Smith in that event.

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