Sebastian Kempe made more inroads in his bid for a maiden fleet-racing title at the Canadian Optimist Championships in Halifax, Nova Scotia yesterday.

The 12-year-old Saltus student started the penultimate day of the championships leading the overall 129-boat racing fleet and managed to put further distance between himself and the chasing pack.

Kempe started racing in the gold fleet on the front foot after finishing second in the first race, but lost momentum after making an unforced error in the second.

The promising sailor paid the price for aggressiveness as he was black-flagged for going over the start-line early and tagged with a last-place finish among the 65-strong gold fleet.

Kempe was back to his best in the final race of the day, when he finished fifth to extend his lead from five points to 13 heading into today’s final day of the championships, being hosted by the Royal Nova Scotia Yacht Squadron.

Canadians Maya Heidenreich and Jack Gogan are second and third.

Also in the thick of contention for a place on the podium is Kempe’s Royal Bermuda Yacht Club team-mate Christian Ebbin, despite slipping one place in the standings to sixth after posting a 12-8-14 on the day.

Laura Hupman was Bermuda’s biggest mover on the day, climbing five places to 43rd.

Genevieve Lau also made significant headway in the 6-10knot breezes on Halifax harbour as she moved up from 20th to 16th.

Making subtle gains were Skye Oliveira who moved up a spot to 63rd and Millie Lewis, who went up from 65th to 64th.

Losing the most ground were Leyli Walker and Rachel Betschart. Walker slipped from ninth to 20th and Betschart from 19th to 25th.

Bermuda’s eight-member team have made their presence felt. Each member qualified for the gold fleet while the team of Kempe, Betschart, Lewis, Hupman and Walker finished runners-up in the team racing event after losing to Royal Nova Scotia Yacht Squadron’s A team in the best-of-three final sail-off.

Accompanying the team is coach and Team BDA Red Bull Youth America’s Cup sailor Owen Siese.