TWO teenage Bermuda sailors warmed up for the 29er Youth World Championships set for this summer by finishing in fourth place this month at the Midwinters East Championships in Sarasota, Florida.Oliver Riihiluoma and Peter Miller had qualified last summer to represent Bermuda at the Youth Worlds and they started training in earnest this past fall out of the Spanish Point Boat Club.

But as there are only a few of the high-speed 29er skiffs in Bermuda the two must test themselves at overseas regattas.

Next up for them are the Midwinters West Championships in March in San Diego, California.

The duo, both 16 years old, must also schedule their training for when they can get together as Riihiluoma attends school at Saltus while Miller goes to the St. George’s school in Newport, Rhode Island.

At Sarasota they were up against 31 other teams mainly from the US, Sweden and Canada. “We arrived a few days before the regatta started so that we could have two-days of clinics with Jen Glass who is a well-known 29er sailor. Then we went straight into racing,” said Riihiluoma this week after returning from the 10-race competition.

While the US sailors brought their own 29ers, Bermuda’s duo chartered their boat as did the 10 other teams from different countries.

In San Diego in March they will be in an even bigger fleet. “The 29ers are very popular on the west coast so we expect there will be a lot more teams racing. And the Midwinters are open to all sailors — pros, adults and youth (teams). At the Worlds in Kingston (Ontario, Canada) we expect about 50 teams as there is only one team per country (per sex) allowed,” said Riihiluoma.

Both teenagers came up through the Opti class in Bermuda and have sailed in numerous World and South American championships.

After the Opti class, they went into the Byte class and then the Laser Radial. “We branched out from there,” said Riihiluoma adding that they were attracted to the fast 29ers by fellow Bermudian sailors James Doughty and Gareth Williams who sailed in the Youth Worlds a couple of years ago. Now those two are in the 49er class which is the bigger brother of the 29er.“We would like to move up into the 49er when we get big enough. You have to have about 400 pounds between you for the 49er while in the 29er you have to weigh about 300 pounds in total. We will just have to bulk up but we would like to compete in the 29er Youth Worlds next year as well since you can compete in them until you are 18 years old.”

Another attraction of the 49er is that it is an Olympic boat. “That is a possible goal down the road a ways,” said Riihiluoma.

Speed was the basic attraction of sailing the 29er for both Riihiluoma and Miller.

“The 29er is a very high tech boat — it can be a wild ride,” he said. “It is a lot of fun compared to other classes. It is definitely exciting and keeps you on edge.”

Although Miller is away at school, Riihiluoma does get out on the 29er in Bermuda either by himself if it is really light winds or with other friends as well as top female sailor Hayley Powell who is also planning on competing in the 29er at the Youth Worlds with crewmate Libby Brewin.

“They have qualified as well and are planning on going,” he said.

The 29er is a class which is split into male and female.

But he and Miller want to try and get in as much training together before the Worlds. “It is important for our boat handling and co-ordination,” he said.