Christian Spodsberg, the Danish Optimist champion, has returned to Bermuda to defend his RenaissanceRe Junior Gold Cup title.

Since last year’s victory in the Optimist dinghies, Spodsberg has continued to impress with an eighth-place position at the IODA World Championships, a second at the Lake Garda Meeting and a win at the Danish National Championships.

He will face a competitive field of 45 local and 16 foreign sailors from 14 countries, with national champions from Argentina, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Norway, Switzerland and Sweden.

For the local contingent, who are aged 10 to 15, the regatta will provide world-class competition in their home waters, an experience usually found only by travelling to a continental IODA event.

Campbell Patton, from the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club, and Tayte Stefaniuk, of the Royal Hamilton Amateur Dinghy Club, are among the sailors expected to push the overseas competitors.

The competition will include 12 races from Thursday until Sunday. Most of the races will be held in the Great Sound, with the final race to be sailed in Hamilton Harbour on the Argo Group Gold Cup course.

n Peter Shrubb, the rear commodore of the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club, has been named on the international jury for next summer’s Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

Shrubb will be the chief umpire of medal racing on a jury that also includes Bonneau Bernard, of France, who is named as chairman and was chairman of the 2014-15 Volvo Ocean Race. Jan Stage, of Denmark, has been named the vice-chairman.

Headed by ISAF technical delegates Alastair Fox and Scott Perry, the team of 26 international technical officials will be present throughout the Olympic Sailing Competition ensuring the fairness of the competition and a level playing field for the 380 sailors to compete on.

The race management team will be headed by Nino Shmueli, from Israe, who was the ISAF’s principal race officer at the 2014 ISAF Sailing World Championships and at the ISAF Sailing World Cup in Qingdao.