Sixteen international junior sailors have been confirmed for next week's Renaissance Reinsurance Junior Gold Cup in Bermuda, which will be held in conjunction with the prestigious Argos King Edward VII Gold Cup.

Ten national champions and the European champion head the group invited to sail against Bermuda's top Optimist sailors.

The Island team will include the top four from local trials – Mackenzie Cooper, Owen Siese, Dimitri Stevens and Sam Stan. Eighteen young Bermudians in all will compete, bringing the fleet to 34.

Of the 16 overseas sailors, ten carry the ranking of number one in their country and 13 participated in this year's IODA (International Optimist Dinghy Association) Worlds. Nine of them finished in the top half, including the IODA European champion.

Over three days next week (October 8-10), the elite Optimist fleet will sail in the Great Sound. The final race will be on Hamilton Harbour, Sunday ,October 11, during an intermission in the Argo Group Gold Cup finals.

The skippers' ages range from 11 to 15, with a quarter of them females. All told, 12 different nations will be represented from North America, South America, Europe, Oceania and the Caribbean.

n Young Bermuda sailor Sean Bouchard, who has represented the Island overseas on many occasions, is continuing to make his mark abroad – this time with Roger Williams University in Massachusetts.

A prominent member of the RWU sailing team, Bouchard was named the university's Male Athlete of the Week after he helped them clinch the Hood Trophy over the weekend on Mystic Lake outside Boston in a regatta hosted by Tufts University.

Racing in the Larks class on a warm, sunny Saturday and then on a cool, wet Sunday, Bouchard and team-mate Kelly Stannard (Salem, Connecticut) took first place among 24 teams in the B Division.

The two combined for six top-three finishes in the 10 races, including four in first place. They never finished out of the top 10, leading to a 45-point total, 15 better than their nearest B Division competitors.

The 45 points combined with RWU's 67 points garnered in the A Division gave RWU first place overall with 112 points – 32 ahead of runners-up, in-state rivals Salve Regina.

Bouchard is a graduate of the Bermuda Optimist Dinghy Association and is a summer Royal Bermuda Yacht Club senior instructor.