David Kendell, the Bermuda windsurfer, dominated the second half of racing at the NatWest Island Games to take silver after the team got off to a rocky start.

Travel difficulties put the Bermuda team in a hole early as they arrived in Jersey without their harnesses, wetsuits, and other equipment thanks to a cancelled flight.

That, combined with light wind and poor sailing conditions meant an unusual start to the week’s races. Jo Robinson, Guernsey’s female sailboarder, proved most adept at picking her way through the light conditions and lead after the first few days of racing, with Kendell and the Bermuda team stumbling to several subpar finishes.

“The wind had been very light with challenging strong currents with many sailors from the other teams sailing well in these conditions,” Scott Mello, veteran Bermudian windsurfer, said.

“David kept in the mix, so never too far from the leaders. I struggled a bit until we got our stuff on the third day and started to understand the currents and light wind settings.”

On Tuesday, Bermuda’s luck began to turn as they settled into the conditions, with Kendell finishing well and beginning to make his move up the rankings.

Wednesday, however, proved to be the turning point as a sudden onset of windy weather played right into Bermuda’s hands.

“The wind made a late appearance and came in super strong, blowing the lasers on land over,” Mello said.

“It was more like motocross with large, windblown chop but perfect for David and myself as they set up a slalom course which favoured high speed windsurfing.

“David shot off with a good start and kept his lead in each race, fending off myself and fellows from Menorca/Jersey in the first two races, and then in the third race pulled away with a sizeable lead.”

Kendell proved unstoppable in the high winds, speeding his way to three straight first place finishes to put himself squarely on the podium in second and trailing leader Stephen Melia of Jersey by one point.

“A great result for sure and not easy with the constant pressure from the following group,” added Mello, who showed what he was capable of, finishing fourth, fourth, and third on the final day of racing to jump to ninth place overall.

There were three more races scheduled for yesterday, but they were cancelled by windless conditions, leaving the results as they were and giving Kendell the silver.

Matthew Wilken finished 15th overall with 153 points and Alexander Jones tied for 17th with 190. Bermuda’s team could not overcome their difficult start and finished fourth in the team event.