Bermudian sailors Sebastian Kempe and Adriana Penruddocke both produced top-ten finishes at the Ilca North American Championships.

Penruddocke finished eighth of the 96 competitors in the Ilca 6 competition, with Kempe finishing ninth of the 46 entrants in the Ilca 7 fleet at Alamitos Bay Yacht Club in Long Beach, California .

Sailors in both fleets were able to drop their two worst finishing positions, with Penruddocke discarding a 29th position in race two and 31st position in race eight to finish with 107 points. Her best performances came when finishing third in race six, while she managed two fourth-place finishes in gold fleet after the competition was split after two days of racing.

Penruddocke was pleased with the way she battled after a difficult start.

“I didn’t have any expectations going into the event as I wanted to learn on the different conditions we could get,” she said.

“The priority was focusing more on decision making and starting. I had a rough first day after not being able to get off the start line, which put me behind and in chip-away mode for that day. From day two onwards I was able to get into a better flow with my starting and get away clean.

“Overall I’m happy with my performance as the majority of races were in the lighter winds and I was able to execute some top five and consistent top-ten finishes so it is a nice confidence builder going into the second half of the season.”

Kempe had two third-place finishes and a fourth among his 12 races and after dropping his two worst positions of 28th and 24th on day two, he ended the regatta on 94 points.

Finley Dickinson, from Great Britain, took top honours in the Ilca 7 fleet after producing a string of fine performances. Dickinson, won seven of the 12 races and never finished lower than eleventh.

Charlotte Rose of the United States took the gold medal in the Ilca 6 fleet on 43 points after finishing either winner or runner-up in seven of the 12 races.