Campbell Patton continued to hold his own during the penultimate day of the Oceania and Australian Laser Championships in Tasmania, Australia, yesterday.

He finished fifteenth and 22nd in the two races contested on the waters of Devonport to move from nineteenth to eighteenth among the 69-strong Laser Radial fleet.

Patton already has three top-three finishes, with a best showing of sixth, and remains on course for a top-20 finish at the regatta being hosted by the Mersey Yacht Club on behalf of the Tasmanian Laser Association.

The son of multiple Bermuda Etchells champion Tim Patton lives in Australia, where he is taking advantage of the opportunities available to him.

He competed at several regattas last year, including the Sail Sydney Olympic Class regatta in, where he won two races en route to an impressive sixth-place finish.

“Being in Australia is really great for my sailing because I can train against the top guys from around the world and still represent Bermuda,” Patton said.

Although Patton’s campaign at the championships is winding down, compatriot Rockal Evans’s is just beginning at the International Finn Australian Championship in Melbourne, which starts today. Evans is going into the regatta with modest expectations.

“I’m testing new equipment, so I’m looking for an average result,” he said.

The 30-year-old returns to the same venue where he placed sixteenth among a fleet of 32 at the Sail Melbourne International last month.

This year is a crucial one for Evans, who is bidding to follow in the footsteps of his late grandfather, Howard Lee, who represented Bermuda in the single-handed Finn dinghy at the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal.