Four international female sailors will compete against local competitors in this year’s RenaissanceRe Junior Gold Cup which starts today.With the Junior Gold Cup now in its 11th year, the event has grown to include more girls both locally and internationally, with female Opti sailors from Brazil, Holland, Britain and Poland taking part.The best result for female sailors was in 2011 when four girls graced the top eight finishers including a second and a third.“I sometimes think that girls are stronger than boys when it comes to keeping your cool, not getting nervous and sailing in any condition,” said Manon Van Dijk, 13, of Holland, who will be racing today.“But in the higher competition you often see more boys because they ‘say’ boys are stronger.“They ‘say’ girls should get good at steering the boat as the boys take the other positions.”Hattie Rogers, 13, of Great Britain, added: “Everyone gets on really well. Everyone likes each other so it is good. I enjoy sailing with boys and girls — it really doesn’t make that much difference.“Some say girls are not as aggressive at the starts, but sometimes it is not just about being aggressive in sailing.”Rogers plans to sail in 420s after Optimists, while Van Dijk hopes to grow tall enough to sail in Lasers.For Aleksandra Melzacka, 15, of Poland, she plans to race in a 29er and Daniela Luz, 13, of Brazil hopes to sail in the Byte class and on a Mach-style catamaran that might “prepare me to sail on a Tornado in the 2016 Olympics.”There are a number of local girls who will look to impress in this year’s competition.It will be the final Junior Gold Cup event for Ceci Wollmann, who is moving to the Byte where Bermuda qualified for a spot in the in the Youth Olympic Games in China in 2014.Her ninth place finish at this year’s IODA North American Championships makes her one of this event’s top sailors. She will also sail in the Bermuda Nationals.“Back in 2007, I remember that we had about nine competitors from overseas and we only had one girl, Morgan Kiss from the USA who now sails for Yale, and only one Bermuda female as well,” said Dede Cooper, co-director of the Junior Gold Cup.“I remember her saying that it is usually more fun to have more girls during these overseas events and I started to make an effort to be sure that we are always about 25-75 girls to boys.”“As entries have increased, we make a concerted effort to level out the playing field as best as possible. This year sees 49 competitors with 13 females including the youngest competitor, Leyli Walker, 9, who is the granddaughter of the late Jordy Walker” said Cooper.“I still feel that girls often opt to “crew” once they get a little older and into a team boat and it does not give them the confidence that perhaps boys get driving the boat,” said Cooper. “The more opportunity for young females to be in the limelight the better.”