Owen Siese has attributed his 2012 ISAF Youth World Championships qualifying performance at last week’s Orange Bowl Regatta to past experience competing at this level.The teenaged Laser Radial sailor qualified for a second straight ISAF Youth World Championships after leapfrogging compatriot Kalin Hillier in the standings on the final day of the four-day regatta in Biscayne Bay, Florida.Siese finished 14th in the 99 boat fleet, one place ahead of Hillier, who began the final day of racing 14 points ahead of his compatriot.Only the top local boat qualified for July’s Youth World Championships in Dublin, Ireland.Siese effectively booked his ticket to the UK in the penultimate race on the first windwind beat when he sailed past Hillier, whose decision to sail further offwind ultimately proved costly.“There was so little wind that if you even got a trickle more than anyone else then you made up some of the ground and unfortunately Kalin was a little too far away from the wind,” the Warwick Academy student said. “It was light and fluky and the wind just died down on his side of the course and a bunch of boats passed him.“Kalin messed up and I got lucky, but that’s the way it goes sometimes.”Siese eventually finished 18th in the penultimate race while Hillier had to settle for 47th.Only two races were sailed on the final day of the regatta which saw light and shifty winds take its toll on sailors and race officials alike. It was conditions which do not necessarily play to Siese’s strengths.“I guess I am sort of good in the light stuff ... but I do prefer the really windy stuff which is more fun and physically challenging,” he said. “But you have to be good in everything if you want to do well at regattas because you never know what you are going to get.”Siese reckons that the experience he has gained sailing at this level in the past gave him the edge when it mattered most at the Orange Bowl Regatta.“I have picked up a lot of stuff at regattas that I have been to recently,” he said. “I am much better than I was last year, but I think there’s still stuff I need to work on.”Also representing Bermuda in the Laser Radial in Florida last week was Mackenzie Copper who placed 34th overall.Ellie Wolman and Hannah Horsfield, the Island’s sole entry in the Club 420, finished 58th in a fleet of 76 boats.Chase Cooper finished 70th overall to lead the local Optimist fleet, followed by Matilda Nicholls (108th), Mikey Wollman (110th) and Yannick Hillier (136th).Nicholls and Hillier both competed in the White Fleet where they placed sixth and 14th in their respective age groups.