Kempe heads Bermuda bid

Sebastian Kempe ended the 2013 Orange Bowl Youth regatta in 17th place in the Optimist Green Fleet at Coral Reef Yacht Club in Miami yesterday.

Light winds blighted the final day of the prestigious youth sailing event, which ended up being cancelled early.

It proved not to Kempe’s liking as it stopped him attempting to force his way into the top 10, although he did end the regatta with his best performance — a fine fifth-place finish.

He ended with 194 points, with the imperious Javier Garcon winning with 26. 

Also in the Green Fleet, Christian Ebbin came in 28th out of the 60 sailors after a strong finish of ninth, eighth and ninth.

In the RWB Opti fleet, Mikey Wollmann couldn’t keep pace with his blistering start but produced some solid racing to end the regatta in 20th spot on 107 points.

Christian Cyrul was the next Bermudian in that class, coming 35th, while Tayte Stefaniuk was 63rd and Felix Cutler 74th.

Down the field the racing provided invaluable experience for the likes of Matilda Nicholls who produced three top-10 finishes over the course of the meet on her way to 80th.

Alice Reeves found the going tougher but was far from disgraced in 104th.

Joe Arrowsmith (109th), Camille Chin-Gurrett (118th), Grace Reeves (144th), Charis Todd (148th), Flo Nicholls (177th) and Brandon Adams (197th) rounded off the 16-and-Under Optis.

Chase Cooper flew the flag in the 4.7 Lasers, finishing a highly-credible 11th after two thirds in his final three races.

In the Radial Lasers, Benn Smith was 54th and Ceci Wollmann 77th. Wollmann finished as the 18th top female. James Amaral came 125th in the radial class.

The regattta featured 720 boats from 23 countries and 27 States.