Young Bermudian sailor Zander Kirkland finished up in eighth place when he competed for his Massachusetts school, Tabor Academy, at the weekend's US National High School Singlehanded Sailing Championships.

At the 16-race regatta, hosted by the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, Zirkland's best finish was a third while he also posted three fourths and three sixths.

His school coach, Rob Hurd, said afterwards he had been impressed with the Bermudian. "Zander did extremely well and was in the mix for top spots all weekend," he commented.

However, Kirkland himself admitted he still had a lot to learn in the Laser class.

"In all but a couple of races, I was in the top two or three at the weather mark, but I lost it downwind because I am weak on downwind Laser technique," he said. "The top three guys are all on the new-look US Olympic training team and have been racing Laser for three years.

"I learned that my downwind technique was weak this past summer in Europe. I'm still new to the Laser Radial and Full Rig with ten total regattas under my belt. I'll be spending every chance over the next nine months improving my speed, particularly downwind, and polishing my boathandling."

Victory in the regatta went to Andrew Campbell of San Diego, who repeated his triumph from a year earlier.

Conditions were close to ideal, allowing all sixteen races to be sailed in a southeasterly sea breeze of around six to eleven knots.

Meanwhile, Kirkland revealed that 18-year-old Brit, Mark Powell, who won the ISAF Youth Worlds in the summer, displaying exceptional speed downwind, would be training with he and other Bermudians, Alex Lines, William Thompson, Ben Wicks, Gareth Willaims and Lawson Williams, for a week over the Christmas holidays.

"We are going to learn his technique," said Kirkland. "Great Britain is the development benchmark. Mark wants to learn Bermudian windshifting which is where I got him occasionally at the Worlds.

"We'll sail six hours a day, racking up a lot of boat time, including ocean waves, running down from Southwest Breaker to St. David's Head, then up the North Shore. This is how we will get big improvements."

Following that training stint, Kirkland will gauge any improvement at The Miami Orange Bowl regatta from December 27-30.