Some of Bermuda’s youngest sailors got their chance in the spotlight when winning a bronze medal in the North American Championships in Antigua.

Bermuda’s squad, which included Trystan Hocking, Dylan Menzies, Miguel Power, Brady Mackay, Nina Gotfredsen and Noah Amaradasa, finished behind Puerto Rico and the United States in the team competition, which is contested by all North American teams in a knockout format.

Dede Cooper, secretary of the Bermuda Optimist Dinghy Association, was thrilled to see the young sailors on the podium.

“It’s a really good achievement and we’re very proud of them,” Cooper said.

“It’s been a number of years since Bermuda was on the podium and we are encouraged to see more of this in the future.”

It wasn’t just as a team that Bermuda’s sailors excelled with half the squad making it into the gold fleet after day two, which is when the the best 62 sailors are separated from the remainder of the field to compete for medals.

Power came out as Bermuda’s best finishing 22nd, with Hocking and Gotfredsen 52nd and 53rd respectively, with Cooper hailing the improvement in performance from the North American Championships in November last year.

“Individually, there were 123 sailors from 13 nations at this competition and we are thrilled with the improvement we have made,” Cooper said.

“We had a team of six in 2022 and a team of six here, and we went from nobody in the gold fleet to 50 percent of our team getting in.

“Our best finisher in November was 54th, so this is a testament to the hard work by the sailors, the BODA programme, the national coach and the local coaches.

“We are pleased to see the improvement, which validates the BODA training programme and we are grateful to our national coach, Pablo Weber, who travels with our IODA teams, and to the local club coaches, all of whom have the best interest of our sailors at heart and all play a big role in getting BODA sailors ready for competition.

Cooper also attributes the improvement down to the teenagers getting experience of top-level competition overseas with their fleet management being put to the test.

“Where our sailors struggle always is fleet management,” Cooper said.

“We just don’t have 60 boats racing at the same time in Bermuda, so there were a couple of situations at the regatta that our kids were involved in regarding fleet management and that is because they get to a mark and there are rules surrounding who has right of way, which side you must go and how much room you have to leave.

“In Bermuda, racing only 18 kids, you’re not going to have a load of boats getting to the mark at the same time, but with 62 of the best kids competing and throwing in a two to three-knot current, it can be overwhelming.

“Improvement is down to coaches but also down to the fact that they have been travelling more. Four of the six sailors went to Spain for the World Championships so the improvement we see validates our programme but it’s also the importance of getting large-fleet experience at regattas overseas.

“They just can’t improve sailing at home, there is only a limit to where they can reach if they stay here. Travelling more helps.”

Optimist racers have only a finite amount of time in the boat with only those aged 15 or under allowed to compete, and Bermuda’s fleet is about to be decimated with some of its best young talent about to age out.

“Three of our six just sailed their last IODA event,” Cooper said.

“BODA will be graduating three of the six sailors on this team due to the age-limit requirement and they will move on to a different class of boat. We will be losing six of our top sailors at the end of the year and that is almost a third of our advanced fleet, but we will look to grow the up and coming sailors and prepare them.”

However, there is still plenty of action to look forward to this year with the RenaissanceRe Junior Gold Cup a highlight of the calendar in October held at Royal Bermuda Yacht Club.

“This will be the 18th year of this event and the RBYC invite 18 top sailors from 18 different countries to attend,” Cooper said.

“That helps our sailors get top international experience without having to travel, so that’s what they should be working towards. Following that will be the National Championships.”