Veteran sailor Malcolm Smith came up short in a bid to defend his South American Sunfish title in Ecuador last week where the Bermudian finished runner up to eventual winner Andrey Quintero of Colombia.

Smith, a multiple Pan American Games silver medallist, Sunfish world champion and Bermuda Male Athlete of the Year Award recipient, managed six podium finishes in the nine race series – including a bullet in the sixth race. However, fourth place finishes in the first, third and seventh races came back to haunt the Bermudian sailor and ultimately put paid to his title aspirations.

Still, the affable Smith was pleased with his overall performance in Ecuador where he met ideal 20 to 25 knot winds and six foot seas.

"Conditions were excellent all three days of racing. The course never had to be altered much as we had nice waves and steady wind out in the open ocean," Smith said.

"It was good racing but pretty tiring and most guys were feeling it by the end of the day. When you are doing three races per day in winds in excess of 20 knots and six foot waves it does get a bit tiring.

"I was hoping to come out on top again but Andrey (Quintero) sailed a really good regatta. He was just on top of his game and in the end it was just one of those things."

Unlike Smith who hadn't sailed since last August's Sunfish Worlds in Canada, Colombian Quintero arrived in Ecuador fresh from a regatta in Brazil where he placed runner up in the Lasers.

"He was in pretty good form when he arrived; Andrey is a good guy," Smith noted. "The level of competition in Ecuador was really good.

"We had some really tight races but Andrey always seemed to get the better of everybody. He is really fast off wind."

n Snipe sailors Lance Fraser and Catalina Sposato will also be accompanying Stevie Dickinson and Martin Finegan to this month's Western Hemisphere and Orient Championship in Uruguay.

Fraser and Sposato are no strangers to the international scene having represented Bermuda in Italy, USA, Sanremo and Uruguay and also held the distinction of being crowned junior North American champions for the past two years.

Fraser, now believed to be the youngest national J-24 match race champion, is head boy at Warwick Academy and watch leader aboard Bermuda Sloop Foundation's Spirit of Bermuda.

The Western Hemisphere and Orient Championship will be held November 22-30.