Cameron Pimentel has vowed to “leave nothing on the table” as he looks to dish out a few surprises against the best sailors in the world.

Pimentel is making his Olympic debut in the Laser Radials in Guanabara Bay and admits he is more excited than daunted about his step into the unknown.

The 25-year-old will be one of the least experienced sailors in today’s fleet having only been competing in his class for about two years, but hopes his swift progress has helped close the gap on the sport’s elite.

“My goal is simply to do the best I possibly can and leave nothing on the table in every race,” said Pimentel, who received a wild card to the Games.

“I’m a realist and I know I’m not a medal contender or even a contender for the final.

“That being said, Rio will provide many races with tricky conditions so I’m hoping to surprise a few people and put some good results on the scorecard.”

Pimentel spent several weeks in Rio getting to grips with the unpredictable conditions at the venue and believes he has reasons to be optimistic based on his performances.

“The last few weeks in Rio were really good,” he said. “I’m used to the area, tried to pick up the language and other small nuances regarding life onshore.

“I’ve had the benefit of getting a lot of great training in with some of the world’s elite sailors, in small groups of eight to ten in addition to informal racing with a big fleet of sailors, all of whom are competing in the games.

“There have been times when I have beaten them in races where the conditions were more unstable, and I feel I have improved enough where I will be very competitive within the fleet.”

Pimentel endured a trying experience during last summer’s Pan Am Games in Toronto, which were his first major competition, although he showed gradual improvement throughout the competition to finish fourteenth overall.

He believes he has improved every facet of sailing since then, but still wishes there was a little more time to prepare.

“The Olympics is the pinnacle of sport and the reality is slowly setting in,” he said.

“I think I’ve improved everything since the Pan Ams. I feel as though I’m a much better sailor in every way due to the hard work I’ve put in over the last year. I’d be lying, though, if I said I didn’t want more time to prepare.

“The majority of the other guys have been to the Olympics before or have been campaigning in the Lasers for more than five years, whereas I’m here after barely two years of work.

“But my progress has been rapid so maybe we can have a surprise in a few of the races and see Bermuda a bit higher on the scoreboard.”

Guanabara Bay has been at the centre of controversy as it has shown high levels of viruses and sometimes bacteria from human sewage in the waters where hundreds of sailors will compete.

Pimentel said he has experienced no ill effects since sailing in the bay, although the debris in the water has given him cause for concern.

“There has been a lot of bad press about the water, but I’ve been on the water for almost more than a month, getting soaked in strong winds many times and I haven’t got sick,” he said.

“Some teams are being crazy cautious, pretty much bathing in hand sanitiser, but I have found simply washing off works fine for me. The real problem is the objects in the water. You can easily snag onto a plastic bag or any variety of random objects floating.

“During one practice race on the downwind leg, there was a real glare from the sun on the water and I managed to steer straight into a massive plastic sheet that was about as big as my boat and I lost a lot of distance.”