Bermuda’s young Optimist dinghy sailors have concluded their time in Lake Garda.

The largest regatta in the world attracted nearly 1,000 sailors to Italy, but while the local population was welcoming, Mother Nature was not, with the weather making for particularly challenging conditions and winds, rain and cold temperatures to the fore.

With most of the inexperienced team of nine having never raced outside the island, the sailors were forced to face unfamiliar conditions and daunting compettitions with nearly 200 sailors on each of the five fleet’s start lines.

A BODA spokesperson said “It is imperative for the growth of our sailors to sail in international waters against more experienced sailors and the Bermuda Optimist Dinghy Association applauds the Royal Hamilton Amateur Dinghy Club for organising this trip,” said a spokesman for the Bermuda Optimist Dinghy Association.

Nina Gotfredsen, 14, the most experienced sailor at this year’s regatta who has represented Bermuda at the World, South American and North American Championships, narrowly missed out on making the Gold Fleet and finished 201st overall and fourth among the silver fleet.

Rory Savage, who had two top-20 finishes overall, was next best and finished 326th overall, 129th in the silver fleet. Emma Brown, 12, attending her first overseas regatta, performed well to finish 338th overall and 141st in silver fleet.

The remaining competitors were John Dwyer, Harry Brown (447th), Jesse Savage (543rd), Nate Wisemen (683rd), Finbar Lohan (786th), Tadgh Gotfredsen (820th) and Joseph Lau, who finished 880th.

Last year’s team had two gold fleet finishers with Miguel Power finishing 61st overall and Shiloh Cruickshank in 128th. Neither attended this year.

The island’s previous best finishers came in 2019 when Christian Ebbin finished 19th and Magnus Ringsted 32nd. Campbell Patton finished seventh overall in the Cadetti fleet (under 11 years old) in 2012.