Christian Ebbin led Bermuda’s charge during the opening qualifying races of the Optimist South American Championships in Algarrobo, Chile, yesterday.

Ebbin posted a 5-3-11 record competing in the challenging conditions in the waters of Algarrobo and after three races is ninth among the boys and thirteenth in an overall fleet of 169.

He is followed by Rachael Betschart, who is tenth among the girls and 40th overall, and Laura Hupman and Magnus Ringsted in 44th and 45th, respectively.

Ava Adams ended the day in 55th and Sebastian Kempe, who is making his final appearance at the annual regatta, in 99th. Rossouw Kipling is 109th, Ben Redburn 117th, Nicole Stovell in 118th and Amelia Lewis in 130th. Adams, Redburn and Stovell are all making their debut at the championships.

“It’s great to see Christian do well but disappointing to see experienced children making small errors on the racecourse,” Somers Kempe, the Bermuda team leader, said. “The breeze did not suit the larger children in the fleet with three-metre swell and light five-knot wind making racing challenging.”

The qualifying series will finish today after which boats will be assigned to the gold, silver and bronze fleets.

The oats with the best qualifying series rankings will race all of the final series races in the gold fleet. The championship consists of three events: the Optimist Individual South American Championships, the Optimist Team Racing South American Championship and the Optimist Nations Cup.

The team racing event will be held tomorrow with Bermuda to be represented by two teams.