RenRe Jr. Gold Cup was a lot harder than previous years says Sam Stan

by Colin Thompson on 22 Oct 2010 Sam Stan secured a podium finish at last week’s RenaissanceRe Junior Gold Cup to demonstrate why he is the current Bermuda national champion.

The 14-year old Optimist sailor placed third overall in a racing fleet that was comprised of some of the world’s elite at this level – such as American twins Chris and Duncan Williford.

Stan said: 'I am very excited about my performance this year and just feel great about it. It was definitely a lot harder than in previous years — but it was good.'

The local sailor, who is widely regarded as one of the most promising up and coming acts, attributes devotion to training among the key factors to his recent success.

He said: 'I have been doing a lot of training and working on different sailing scenarios and stuff like that. All of the coaching I’ve had also helped.'

Consistent
The Bermudian sailed consistently throughout the regatta, posting three bullets and a second place finish to complete the 12 race series ten points adrift of Portuguese winner Diogo Pereira.

Next year will be Stan’s last year of eligibility for the RenaissanceRe Junior Gold Cup before he ages out. And, if all goes accordingly, the young sailor hopes to go out with a bang.

'Hopefully I can do even better,' he said, with a huge grin.

Also representing Bermuda at last week’s regatta were the likes of Chase Cooper, Rory Caslin, Campbell Patton and Antonio Bailey who is the son of newly installed Bermuda Optimist Dinghy Association president Anthony Bailey.

Praising the efforts of Team Bermuda was past Royal Bermuda Yacht Club (RBYC) commodore Somers Cooper.

He said: 'I think all the Bermudians really did a great job – Sam in particular was in the hunt the entire regatta and that third place finish shows us that Bermuda is still up there in the sailing world of the youth division.'

Cooper went on to add: 'We couldn’t have ordered better weather. We had northerly winds from 10 to 16 knots and apart from Thursday, when it was a little spotty and we had some rain and some light wind, we had absolutely perfect sailing weather - and I can’t be more pleased.'

The Renaissance Re Junior Gold Cup always attracts a spectacular group of young international sailors to compete against Bermuda’s top Opti sailors. Of the fourteen international sailors, thirteen are on their respective Worlds Team for the 2010 IODA World Championships in Malaysia in December. Six are their nation's champion with a ranking of #1 and seven participated in last year’s IODA (International Optimist Dinghy Association) Worlds. Four of them finished in the top third.

The skipper’s ages ranged from eleven to fifteen with four of the international sailors being girls. Different nations from North America, Europe, Oceania and the Caribbean were represented.

For more information, please go to: www.argogroupgoldcup.com