Bermuda will be represented at the United States Optimist Dinghy Association Midwinter Championship, which starts today in New Orleans.

The Bermuda Optimist Dinghy Association have sent a seven-member team to the event, which includes national boys’ and girls’ champions Christian Ebbin and Amelia Lewis.

Ebbin has enjoyed a breakout year, having won the Volvo Gill Optimist and British Open Championship in Wales and the Bermuda Open and National Optimist Championship.

Lewis was the top local and second overall among the female sailors at the Bermuda Open National Optimist Championships in the Great Sound this month.

Bermuda’s team also boasts Sebastian Kempe, who finished second at the Optimist North American Championships in Mexico last summer and the Bermuda Open and National Optimist Championships.

Magnus Ringsted, Laura Hupman, Nicole Stovell and Rachael Betschart make up the remainder of Bermuda’s team being accompanied by high-performance coach Pablo Weber.

All of the members on Bermuda’s team competed at the Bermuda Open and National Optimist Championship.

Kempe, Ebbin and Ringsted represented the island at the Optimist World Championship and North American Optimist Championships this year.

Stovell, Betschart and Lewis also competed at the North American Optimist Championships in Mexico.

The USODA Midwinter Championship runs from November 22 to 24 and is being hosted by the Southern Yacht Club.

The series will be contested on Lake Pontchartrain and will consist of a qualifying round and a final round.

The top third from the qualifying round will be placed in the Championship Fleet and the remainder into the Silver Fleet for the final round.

Meanwhile, the BODA has announced Bermuda’s team to represent the island at the South American Optimist Championships in Chile next year.

The team consists of Ava Adams, Ben Redburn, Kipling Rossouw, Ebbin, Hupman, Ringsted, Lewis, Stovell, Kempe and Betschart, who all earned their place the Bermuda Open National Optimist Championship, which also served as a qualifier for the South American Optimist Championships to be held April.