Bermuda Optimist Dinghy Association (BODA) president Anthony Bailey has high expectations for the Island’s five-member team that will compete at the IODA South American Championship in Brazil later this month.Local Opti sailors Mikey Wollmann, Benn Smith, Peter Dill, Chase Cooper and Ceci Wollmann will be among the 150 sailors from 14 countries that will compete at the upcoming regatta to be held March 24-30 in Porto Alegre."All five of these sailors have demonstrated that they have the potential to bring back some impressive results,” Bailey said. “They have trained hard and even travelled to a regatta in Argentina last month to gain experience and to get a better feel for the competition they will face in Brazil.“The championship in Brazil will also be a good highly competitive, large fleet warm-up for the North American Championship here in Bermuda this coming July."The South American Championship will comprise of 12 races spread over six days. Bermuda’s sailors will have a rest day in the middle of the regatta along with another day designated for the team racing championship.Bermuda’s South American Championship team departed for Brazil at the weekend where they will have nearly a week to train and acclimatise themselves under the direction of BODA high performance coach Martin Jenkins before the regatta's opening ceremonies on March 22.Porto Alegre is the capital in the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul and is one of the top cultural, political and economic centres of Brazil. The regatta will take place on the eastern bank of the Rio Guaiba, where five rivers converge to form the Lagoa dos Patos, a giant freshwater lagoon navigable by even the largest of ships.