Bermuda’s Steven Bridges and David Selley held their own against some of the world’s elite at the Race World Offshore Key West World Championships in Florida.

The pair competed in Bridge’s 32-foot catamaran in the Super Stock class in which they placed a respectable sixth of the eleven teams after producing finishes of fourth, eighth and fifth in the three races.

Bridges said there were positives to take from the experience despite falling shy of expectations.

“Obviously we did not get the results we wanted, but we came away with a lot of positive thoughts, seat time and lessons learnt,” he told The Royal Gazette.

“We almost had a podium finish in the first race but lost the tunnel tab and were passed on the last lap.

“The second race was down to choosing the wrong set-up and in the last race a boat went over on the second lap, so we had to restart the race and had an incident on the restart which put us in last place, but we still managed a fifth-place finish.

“With the competition being so tight, as all boats run the same engines and modifications are not allowed, making the wrong prop selection and how much weight and fuel to put in the boat makes all the difference.

“David and I are racing against veterans that have been racing for ten to 15 years, so we have some catching up to do with learning the boat, gaining knowledge on water conditions and set-up.”

Bridges also thanked the team’s sponsors and supporters who have rallied behind the cause.

“It takes a big effort to put a racing season together and getting the boat ready to race and we could not do it without the help from our friends and family so we would like to say a huge thank you to them,” he added.

“Also a tremendous thank you to our sponsors as this would not be possible without their support. We look forward to the 2024 season and have heard there is a possibility of having races televised by NBC.”

Florida’s Reese Langheim and Ricky Maldonado (Jackhammer) won the Super Stock class, with New Hampshire’s Daren Kittredge and Grant Bruggemann (Northwing) taking second and New York’s Peter Bogino and AJ Bogino (Coco’s Monkey) third.

Bridges and Selley made their debut at the championships last year but their campaign was cut short after they were forced to withdraw due to severe technical malfunctions on their boat.