Promising sailor Chase Cooper won the 2012 Bermuda Optimist Dinghy Association (BODA) Sailor of the Year award at Royal Hamilton Amateur Dinghy Club (RHADC) at the weekend.The Warwick Academy student received the award in recognition of a series of impressive results last year in the Optimist dinghy competing both locally and abroad.Cooper represented Bermuda at the IODA South American Championships, World Championships and North American Championships and was the Island’s top performer during the Renaissance Re Junior Gold Cup.The 14-year old Royal Bermuda Yacht Club (RBYC) sailor produced Bermuda’s best showing at the North American Championships in three years after finishing 10th overall and placed 11th at the Orange Bowl in Florida and seventh at the Renaissance Re Junior Gold Cup to earn the Dick Kempe Trophy awarded to the top Bermuda sailor at the regatta.Cooper was presented with a cedar trophy at Saturday night’s gathering by Mrs Neil Kempe, wife of late RBYC commodore and international sailing juror Dick Kempe.BODA’s Female Sailor of the Year Award went to Ceci Wollmann who also performed admirably at local and international regattas last year.The Saltus student won the CORK regatta in Canada and was the top girl at the Canadian and Bermuda National Championships and the Renaissance Re Junior Gold Cup.The RHADC sailor also represented Bermuda at the 2012 South American Championships.Both Wollmann and Cooper are among Bermuda’s 2013 IODA South American Championship team that will travel to Argentina next week to compete at the Semana del Mar Regatta.Mikey Wollmann, Peter Dill and Benn Smith make up the remainder of Bermuda’s South American Championships team.