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posted : 8 months ago Bermuda's Youth Sailors Finish on a "High Note" at Miami Orange Bowl Regatta.
Bermuda's Youth Sailors Finish on a "High Note" at Miami Orange Bowl Regatta.
Coconut Grove, Florida. The 4th and final day of the 40th annual Orange Bowl International Youth Regatta, hosted collaboratively by the US Sailing Center (Miami, Fla.), Coral Reef Yacht Club, Biscayne Bay Yacht Club, and Lauderdale Yacht Club saw the 12 Bermuda sailors finish strong among the 722 competitors who enjoyed the mostly sunny and sometimes breezy conditions on Miami's Biscayne Bay.
In the International 420 Class (I-420) James Anfossi and Jordan Saints, sailing the I-420 for the first time, showed improvement throughout the regatta climbing from 11th place after the first day, eventually finishing in 8th place in the 22 boat fleet. The team of Morgan Kiss from Michigan and Katia DaSilva from Rhode Island took first place followed by Puerto Rico's Raul Rios and Rogelio Fernandez. All are former Optimist dinghy "stars". The I-420 class was invited to join the Orange Bowl for the first time this year and is the equipment chosen for the 2010 the ISAF Youth Worlds this July in Isanbul, Turkey. Anfossi and Saints will be representing Bermuda, going up against the World's best including Americans, Kiss and DaSilva this summer.
Blake Burgess crewed for Christchurch School teamate Bobby Lippincott in the Club 420 and the pair finished 12th with 75 points in the 90 boat fleet with trio of top 5 finishes in the last three races. Finishing in first place was the pair of Graham Landy and Colin Murphy.
One of the larger classes, the 135 boat Laser Radial fleet had three local entries. Jason Saints finish in 30th place, while Ryan Saraiva finished in 46th place and Chris Sposato finished in 81st place. The Laser Radial Class was won by St. Petersburg's Mateo Vargas with a 5 point lead over Stefano Mazzaferro from Brasil. Jason and Chris will be battling it out back on home waters this month, seeking the remaining berth to represent Bermuda in the singlehanded dinghy at the ISAF Youth Worlds. Ryan will be back on the water this spring representing Roger Williams College in Bristol, Rhode Island.
Sailing in the 32 boat Laser 4.7 fleet for the first time, Mackenzie Cooper finished in 14th place with 3 top 10 finishes on the last day. Just Van Aanholt from Curacao was the winner with Germany's Maximillian Stein in 2nd and Juanky Perdomo from Puerto Rico in 3rd. Mackenzie and most of the 4.7 fleet at the Orange Bowl are potential contenders for their respective countries for the Youth Olympic Games (YOG) this August in Singapore. The YOG will be using the Byte CII dinghy and the Laser 4.7 is the most similar dinghy for areas that do not have the Byte.
The Bermuda optimist sailors had a great final day and all five moved up in the standings in the 225 boat fleet after 12 races. 2009 Bermuda National Champion, Sam Stan who won race 11, moved up ten spots from 41st to 31st, Ellie Wollmann moved up twenty places from 76th to 56th, while Ceci Wollmann jumped from 110th to 91st, brother Mickey Wollmann moved up 10 places from 125th to 115th and Ferdinand Arnold moved up 30 places from 180th to 150th in his first overseas event. All five will be representing Bermuda at the IODA South American Championships in Uruguay this coming March. The overall winner after late protest deliberations was Christopher Williford from Lauderdale Yacht Club. Four points behind in 2nd was Javier Arribas from Lima, Peru representing Yacht Club Peruano. The 3rd placed sailor was the Champion's twin brother Duncan. The Williford brothers are well known in the Opti World and have both sailed in the Bermuda Jr. Gold Cup.
