Royal Hamilton Amateur Dinghy Club sailors Ceci and Mikey Wollmann and Peter Dill occupied the top three spots on the overall leaderboard after yesterday’s opening day of the 2014 Open Bic North American Championships in Hamilton Harbour.

The local trio made the most of ideal conditions to get their campaigns off to a flying start.

After eight races and two drops, top female sailor Ceci leads the Open Division and overall 32-boat fleet by a solitary point over sibling Mikey, who represented Bermuda at last week’s IODA South American Championship in Uruguay.

Had she not been penalised for venturing on the racecourse before the starter’s gun in the fifth race, Saltus student Ceci, who scored three firsts and four seconds, might have ended the day leading the three-day regatta by a wider margin.

The costly error enabled her brother Mikey, who also attends Saltus, to remain hot on her heels heading into today’s second day of competition.

Mikey was also consistent in the 18-knot breezes, scoring two victories and four seconds and finishing no lower than sixth in the races sailed.

A further eight points adrift in third is Dill, who also managed three victories.

Lars von Sydow, of Hawaii, is the top overseas sailor in the Open division and fourth overall, level on points with local sailor Dill.

Sydow’s compatriots Kanoa Pick, John Lattanzi and Marcos Baez occupied the top three places on the leaderboard in the under-13 division after eight races.

Pick leads Lattanzi by seven points with Baez a further seven points off the lead pace heading into today’s second day of racing.

Pick is fifteenth overall, Lattanzi seventeenth and Baez nineteenth.

The fleet racing event features young sailors ranging in ages from 9 to 16 from the United States, Europe and Bermuda.