Bermuda’s contingent of youth sailors found the going difficult during the opening day of the Optimist North American Championship in Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico, yesterday.

The island had three of its ten sailors among the top 50 after the opening three races in an overall fleet of 110 sailors from 12 countries.

Trystan Hocking, 12, was the island’s highest-placed sailor in seventeenth place after registering finishes of fourth, 21st and thirteenth in the Blue Group.

PJ Rodrigues is 25th overall after placing 26th ninth and 24th in the Yellow Group.

Riley Lowe had been in the top 50 but slipped to 64th overall after placements of 44th, seventh and 47th in the Yellow Group. She was followed on the same overall point county of 98 by Isaac Wickramage, after he took nineteenth, 44th and 35th in the Blue Group.

The others Bermuda sailors competing include Sarah Davis (74th overall after three races), Kipling Rossouw (91st), Sophia Dias (92nd), Shiloh Cruikshank (97th), Jordan Vieira (100th) and Jack Adderley (101st).

Andrew Dias, the Bermuda team leader, held high expectations of the island’s sailors on the eve of the first International Optimist Dinghy Association regatta held in more than a year because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Mexico is generally a little bit lighter winds than Bermuda and our lighter sailors, if they sail well, should be able to take advantage of the lighter winds,” he told The Royal Gazette.

“I think overall the team stands a very good chance of having quite a few people in Gold Fleet, and they will make that determination after the second day of racing.

“We’re looking to have almost half of our fleet hopefully in Gold Fleet, which would be an amazing event for everybody.”

The championship is being hosted by the Vallarta Yacht Club and runs until Saturday.