Bermuda’s young sailors found the going tough at the Optimist European Championship, which concluded yesterday in Thessaloniki, Greece.

Rory Savage, James Ganal and Evan Davis made up Bermuda’s team. Overall, Savage was 118th, Ganal 124th and Davis 155th. In the silver fleet, Savage secured eighth position, Ganal fourteenth and Davis finished 45th.

Dede Cooper, secretary of the Bermuda Optimist Dinghy Association, pointed at the weather conditions and spending long hours in the water as the reasons why the three youngsters struggled.

“It was a tough one,” Cooper said.

“Day after day of temperatures over 100F, very light wind, short chop and current. Evan’s first IODA event and only second for Rory and James. A highly competitive large fleet, too.

“Some days, they were five, six hours on the water, too. Certainly the same conditions for all the sailors, but not very familiar for our fairly inexperienced team.

“Great and challenging experience for a relatively inexperienced team. Last day was their best. Tough mentally to spend so long on the water in extreme heat with light breezes, pleased overall though.”

The European Championship marked the end of a busy period for Bermuda’s young sailors who also took part in the World Championships in Spain last month as well as the North American Championships in Antigua at the beginning of July.

Next on the calendar is the RenaissanceRe Invitational Junior Gold Cup at the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club, where the club invites 18 sailors from same number of countries to come and compete, with the event taking place from October 4 to 7.

The regatta was founded as a way to afford Bermuda’s youth sailors a taste of international competition, and it has proved valuable in forging lasting friendships, as the international sailors are housed with Bermudians.