Cecilia and Michael Wollmann are in the lead after the first round of their event at the Aon Youth Sailing World Championships.

The siblings were the most consistent team on a gusty and shifty Hauraki Gulf, in Auckland, New Zealand, yesterday. They posted a record of 8-1-6 in the opening three races, to carve out a two-point advantage at the top of the leaderboard in the 20-boat Nacra 15 fleet.

“Still a long regatta so anything can happen,” Cecilia, 18, said. “Conditions were mid-teens, low twenties wind which made for some challenging conditions.

“If you look, also, most teams are two boys.”

The Bermudians warmed up for the regatta by training in a Nacra 17 owned by the Bermuda Red Bull Youth America’s Cup team, of whom Cecilia is a member.

They also trained on a Nacra 15 during clinics in Weymouth, England and Newport, Rhode Island in the lead-up to this year’s Youth Sailing World Championships.

The Wollmanns are the first siblings to represent Bermuda at a leading regatta since brothers Jesse and Zander Kirkland competed in the 49er at the London 2012 Olympics.

Cecilia, who is competing with her 16-year-old brother, has enjoyed a stellar year having made her Olympic debut in Rio de Janeiro in August, competing in the Laser Radial.

She is the only local athlete to have represented Bermuda at senior and junior Olympic levels having also competed in the Byte CII class at the Youth Olympics in Nanjing, China in 2014.

In second, behind the Bermudian pair, are Romain Screve and Ian Brill, of the United States, with Jackson Keon and Tom Fyfe, of the host nation, a further nine points adrift in third.

The Nacra 15 is a semi-foiling catamaran which is making its debut at the championships this year.

Also representing Bermuda in New Zealand is Campbell Patton, who is making his debut at the event competing in the Laser Radial boys fleet.

As one of the lightest sailors in a fleet of 57, Patton found the going tough in the 18-25 knot breezes, posting a 45th and 46th in the two races contested to finish day one in 47th.

Patrick Doepping, of Denmark, leads in the Laser Radial boys followed by New Zealand’s George Gautrey in second and Poland’s Jakub Rodziewicz in third.

The Youth Sailing World Championships and involve nearly 400 sailors from 65 countries competing in nine separate classes off the waters of Waiake Beach in Auckland.