Bermuda made history competing among a record fleet at the Optimist World Championship in Antigua last week.

For the first time the island had two sailors place in the top 11 in the world and ranked third going into the team racing event.

Christian Ebbin finished eighth and Sebastian Kempe eleventh in a record fleet of 259 sailors. Magnus Ringsted (85th), Laura Hupman (106th) and Nicole Stovell (197th) were the remaining members of Bermuda’s team.

“The team have been working hard this year both on and off the water,” Pablo Weber, the Bermuda coach, said.

“I am very proud to be part of Team Bermuda and thankful to the Bermuda Optimist Dinghy Association for giving me the opportunity to help develop these sailors.

“I also want to thank all of the people that made this possible.”

The final ranking of the 65 countries represented has yet to be tabulated.

However, Bermuda will likely be ranked among the top ten based of their showing.

“The Bermuda Optimist Dinghy Association is overwhelmed by the success of their sailors at the worlds and are so pleased to see the sailors’ dedication to their coach and to the Boda programme pay off,” Dede Cooper, the Boda vice-president, said.

“The team has spent hours on the water and in the gym and to have two sailors finish in the top 11 in the world has never been done before, nor has Bermuda been ranked as high as third heading into team racing.”

Bermuda Olympic sailor Jesse Kirkland produced the island’s best showing to date of second at the 2003 Optimist World Championship in Spain, while Anfossi James finished fourth at the 2007 event held in Italy.

Meanwhile, Campbell Patton has climbed into the top half of the Laser Radial fleet at the Youth Sailing World Championships in Gdynia, Poland. After four races and a drop Patton is eighteenth among an overall fleet of 57, with a best showing to date of fifteenth.