FRIDAY, JULY 27: Team Bermuda was scheduled to return to the island last night from the Dominican Republic after competing at the 2012 International Optimist Dinghy Association (IODA) World Sailing Championships.
The event, which was hosted by Club Nautico de Santo Domingo, saw 230 sailors from 42 countries competing.
Management issues and conditions ranging from light winds to thunderstorms challenged the sailors and only nine races of the scheduled 12 were completed for the regatta.
Top local sailor was Rory Caslin, who finished in 128th position out of the 230 sailors. Others were Makai Joell in 140th, Peter Dill in 162nd, Chase Cooper in 166th and Antonio Bailey in 172nd.
After completing his first World’s as high performance Coach, Martin Jenkins is looking forward to using this event as a benchmark for the next 12 months of training and goal setting as he aims to improve Bermuda’s standing on the world stage.
Anthony Bailey, team leader BODA president, said: “despite some lower than expected scores, the sailors never lost their desire to do well, were great sportsmen and finished in high spirits at the end of youth sailing’s most competitive regatta.”
The event was a clean sweep by Singapore as 14-year-old Elisa Yukie Yokoyama emerged as the girl’s world champion and was also named overall world champion. Her teammates were second and third.