Bermuda Youth Sailors Excel Worldwide
Bermuda’s Youth Sailors have had a busy summer across the globe and have brought home some impressive results in the i420, Club 420 and Laser classes along with previously reported accolades from the Optimist class.
Laser Radial North American Championships: Texas
- Bermuda’s top Laser Radial sailors traveled to the Laser Radial North American Championships in Kema, Teaxs in June as a warm up for the Laser Radial World Championships and ISAF Youth Worlds held in July. Cameron Pimentel, Jason Saints, Ryan Saraiva and Campbell Duffy all qualified for the Gold Fleet in the 94 boat qualifier on Galveston Bay hosted by the Texas Corinthian Yacht Club. Cameron finished the regatta in 3rd place overall, Jason was 18th, Ryan 21st and Campbell 34th.
40th Volvo Youth Sailing ISAF World Championships: Turkey
- The Bermuda Team of James Anfossi and Jordan Saints (i420 Dinghy) and Jason Saints (Laser Radial) travelled to Istanbul, Turkey in mid July and joined 344 sailors from 63 different countries. The Youth Worlds is the penultimate Youth Sailing competition on the annual sailing calendar. James and Jordan finished 29th out of 36 boats while Jason finished 36th out of 50 Laser Radials.
International Laser Class Radial World Championships: Scotland
- Cameron Pimentel, Ryan Saraiva and Campbell Duffy travelled to Largs, Scotland July 7 – 14. An Open event featuring sailors of all ages, Cameron qualified in the Gold fleet and finished 32nd out of 92 boats and 9th in the Under 21 category. Saraiva and Duffy qualified in the Silver Fleet and finished 61st and 89th respectively.
Club 420 North American Championships: New Jersey
- Mackenzie Cooper was the lone Bermudian at the Club 420 North American Championships sailed in the waters off Long Beach Island, New Jersey in late July. Cooper joined up with new crew member Tristan Sess from New York and entered the regatta as part of the Newport, RI based FAST Racing Team. Sailing his first 420 fleet racing regatta Cooper and Sess finished 20th in the 109 boat fleet.
Hyannis Regatta: Massachusetts
- Two Bermudian skippers, Mackenzie Cooper and Rian Powell entered the popular Hyannis Regatta (Cape Cod, Massachusetts) in the Club 420 class over the Cup Match weekend. Cooper and crew Tristan Sess and Powell and his Rhode Island crew Patrick Isherwood battled black flag penalties and no drop races on the waters of Nantucket Sound to finish 12th and 26th respectively in the 100 boat fleet.
38th Buzzards Bay Regatta: Massachusetts
- More than a 1000 sailors descended on the Beverly Yacht Club in Marion, Massachusetts for this large annual regatta. Bermuda was well represented by Mackenzie Cooper, Joshua Greenslade and Rian Powell in the two man Club 420 Class and by Kalin Hillier, James Anfossi and Chris Sposato in the singlehanded Laser Radial Class. Cooper ended up in 21st place in the 126 boat fleet followed by Powell in 51st and Greenslade in 52rd. Kalin Hillier led the Bermudians in the Laser Radial class finishing 12th in the 59 boat fleet . Anfossi was next in 18th and Sposato in 36th place.
Youth Olympic Games: Singapore
- Bermudian sailing representative, Owen Siese left this weekend for the inaugural Youth Olympic Games starting in Singapore next week. Owen will be sailing the singlehanded Byte CII Dinghy against a fleet of boys aged 15 and 16 from 24 other countries. The threat of Tropical Storm Colin forced an early departure to insure connections would be made to make it to Singapore in time for scheduled training in the local conditions.
The photo below is from the i420′s Racing at Volvo Youth World Championships in Istanbul, Turkey:
