Bermuda's youth sailors finished on a high at the Miami Orange Bowl Regatta following four gruelling days of sailing in Florida, with the 12-strong team competing in four classes.

The fourth and final day of the Bowl saw Bermuda's sailors making their mark among 722 competitors who enjoyed mostly sunny and sometimes breezy conditions on Miami's Biscayne Bay.

James Anfossi and Jordan Saints, who both sailed in the 420 Class (I-420) for the first time, showed improvement throughout the regatta, climbing from 11th place after the first day to eventually finish eighth in the 22-boat fleet.

The team of Morgan Kiss from Michigan and Katia DaSilva from Rhode Island took first place followed by Puerto Rico's Raul Rios and Rogelio Fernandez.

The class was invited to join the Orange Bowl for the first time this year and is the same boat chosen for the 2010 the ISAF Youth Worlds this July in Isanbul, Turkey. Anfossi and Saints will be representing Bermuda at that regatta and again will lock horns with the world's best including Kiss and DaSilva.

Blake Burgess crewed for Christ Church School team-mate Bobby Lippincott in the Club 420 and the pair finished 12th with 75 points in the 90-boat fleet with top five finishes in the last three races.

One of the larger classes, the Laser Radial, included three local entries as Jason Saints, Ryan Saraiva and Chris Sposato tested their skills in a fleet of 135.

Saints finished in 30th place while Saraiva and Sposato placed 46th and 81st respectively.

Saints and Saraiva will be battling it out on home waters this month to see who will get the last spot to represent Bermuda in the single-handed dinghy at the ISAF Youth Worlds.

Saraiva will also represent Roger Williams College in Bristol, Rhode Island this spring.

Sailing in the 32-boat Laser 4.7 fleet for the first time, Mackenzie Cooper finished in 14th place with three top-10 finishes on the last day.

Cooper and most of the 4.7 fleet at the Orange Bowl will be representing their countries at the Youth Olympic Games (YOG) this August in Singapore.

Bermuda's Optimist sailors had a great final day as all five moved up in the standings in the 225-boat fleet after 12 races were completed.

The 2009 Bermuda National Champion Sam Stan, who won race 11and moved up ten spots from 41st to 31st, while Ellie Wollmann moved up 20 places from 76th to 56th.

Ceci Wollmann jumped from 110th to 91st, and brother Mickey moved up 10 places from 125th to 115th.

Ferdinand Arnold rose 30 places from 180th to 150th in his first overseas event.

All five will be representing Bermuda at the IODA South American Championships in Uruguay this March.

The overall winner after late protest deliberations was Christopher Williford from Lauderdale Yacht Club. Four points behind in second was Javier Arribas from Lima, Peru, representing Yacht Club Peruano.

The Williford brothers are well known in the Opti world and have both sailed in the Bermuda Junior Gold Cup.