Bermuda's national champion, Sam Stan, finished up in 33rd place when the South American Optimist Championships wound up in Uruguay on Saturday.

And Bermuda's team manager Paul Wollmann was happy with his young team noting that some will be in the Optimist class for a few years yet – especially nine-year old Mikey Wollmann.

Winning the championships, which had over 160 sailors competing, was Argentina's Ignacio Varisco.

Speaking from the airport in Uruguay yesterday before the team headed back to Bermuda via Buenos Aires and Miami, Wollmann said: "I think our kids did very well. The kids are in good spirits – everyone is happy and I think they all had a good regatta. Sam had four or five top 10 finishes and he was also the fourth non-South American. Also these championships bode well for the future since we had a young team here. Sam still has another year left in the Optis and most have three years left and Mikey has five years left. Compared to other teams we were very young. A lot of the other sailors here had a lot of experience."

Mikey Wollmann also led in one of his last races and was just pipped at the end by a Brazilian.

"Unfortunately he ended up being OCS and that was hard to take – for him to hold that position especially with the world champion in the race who finished in fourth says something."

An OCS or short-hand for (On the Course Side) refers to where a boat is when the starting signal goes. If you are OCS, you are on the wrong side of the line, and will be penalised for an early start.

When the team arrives back in Bermuda this week they get straight back into training with a clinic.

"The North American Championships (in Kingston, Ontario in June) are the next big regatta we go to," said Wollmann adding that many of this team will eventually go into the 420 class when they graduate from the Optimist class.

The majority of the sailors in Uruguay were male while Bermuda had two females in the six-sailor team.

Ceci Wollmann finished in 101st place while Ellie Wollmann ended up in 118th place. Roray Caslin finished the 12 races (one throw out) in 134th place and Arnold Ferdinand finished in 139th place with Mikey Wollmann finishing in 154th place.