Five of Bermuda’s young female sailors competed at the inaugural Eastern Yacht Club Women’s IOD Invitational in Massachussets last week.

Millie Lewis, Nicole Stovell, Julia Lines, Laura Hupman and Emily Davis finished fourth of the seven teams after competing in six races over two days at Marblehead in Boston, with the regatta won by the team skippered by Isabelle Farrar, who competed at the 2004 Olympics for the United States.

Lewis was captain of the Bermuda boat and was delighted with the atmosphere at the event.

“It was so supportive and everybody was happy to be there and happy to help out other people,” Lewis said.

“It was amazing that we were all there and that this was the first time the event had been held. We were told by the organisers that there was quite a bit of pushback when this was announced as people thought there would not be enough sailors to join or enough demand but they managed to get seven teams, each with five or six women, from all along the East Coast plus us from Bermuda. We showed that this can happen and can work.”

Bermuda’s five-strong team had put in plenty of practice around the island during the summer and, despite being named skipper, Lewis was keen to emphasise the collaborative nature of the Bermuda boat.

“I volunteered so that was the main driver for me being skipper,” Lewis said.

“Emily was foredeck and she’s had quite a lot of experience in that role previously, Nicole did main sheet and she is very strong and great at that. She’d been in that role during practice and wanted to continue. Laura and Julia were the tacticians and did spinnaker work and gyb, so while I wasn’t the odd one out I just offered to be skipper and everyone agreed.

“I’m normally quiet and reserved but my leadership style, even outside of sailing, is quiet and firm. That showed when I was skippering the boat but because Julia has so much experience in IOD and took the main tactician role, she was the louder voice on the boat. But we worked so well as a team bouncing ideas off each other and went through step-by-step processes for each decision we were making.

“There were obviously times when a split-second decision had to be made and that was done by me because I was driving, but that didn’t happen too much as we were thoughtful about our decision making. There was not one leader, we took more of a group approach.

Lewis was thrilled to take part in a groundbreaking event with a group of friends, some of whom she has known since childhood, and revelled in the experience of taking on some of the world’s best sailors, including Farrar.

“This was my first IOD event and I’m normally sailing in dinghys, which is for one or two people, and it was really nice to sail with Laura, Nicole and Emily as we have been friends since we were very young and that helped with the team dynamic,” Lewis said

“Isabelle Farrar led the fleet and took the win but it was amazing to watch her and witness these extremely talented sailors do their thing.

“We’d be on the racecourse and going upwind and Isabelle would be pointing the highest and going the fastest. You don’t tend to be having both of those things happening at the same time as it’s kind of a tradeoff but that was amazing to see.

“It’s always good to learn but to be in the presence of such amazing women is so cool. I’ve definitely got greater appreciation for IOD as a boat and this was a step outside my comfort zone and a positive change, so I will definitely be looking to do some more keel boating in the future.”