Following his second-place finish at the Star Western Hemisphere Championships in Tampa earlier this week, top local sailor Peter Bromby has been given a scholarship by the International Sailing Federation to help him prepare for next summer’s Olympics in Beijing.

The four-time Olympian, along with his new crew Bill McNiven, recorded two first places, one third, one fifth and one eleventh place to grab second spot at the Florida regatta.

A veteran of the Olympic keelboat star class, Bromby finished 13th and 19th at the Atlanta and Barcelona Games respectively before a devastating near miss in Sydney saw the local sailing legend finish in fourth — only a few points adrift of a bronze medal.

And having been one of the favourites in Athens in 2004, a disastrous first day with then crew Lee White where they finished the two races in 17th and 16th place, put paid to his medal ambitions once again.

But Bromby is hoping that with regular racing in the run-up to this year’s World Championships, he will finally have the opportunity to stand upon an Olympic podium.

“We are working hard to improve upon our team work and boat handling skills,’ said Bromby of his new partnership with McNiven.

“This means we’ll have to get to as many regattas as possible in both the US and in Europe this summer. We have had several top ten finishes already this year and hope to continue to improve and peak at the World Championships, our 2007 Olympic qualifier, in Cascais this summer.

“The funds which we receive from the Olympic Solidarity Scholarship will be used for both travel costs and coaching costs. We simply could not afford to hire a coach without this assistance and, whilst I have competed in four Olympic Games, it is still just as important for us to have a coach now as it was 15 years ago.”

* Thirteen of Bermuda’s top young sailors recently returned from representing the Island at the 2007 IODA South American Championships held in Niteroi, Brazil from March 29 to April 8.

The event was the first International Optimist Dinghy Association (IODA) Championship of the year which saw 185 sailors from 18 countries competing in the waters off of the Clube Naval Charitas in Niteroi.

Top Optimist sailors from not only North and South America were there but also several from other leading sailing countries around the globe such as Singapore and Greece. With only a handful of veterans, this year’s Bermuda team was comprised of a young group of competent junior sailors who held their own through the regatta, despite a few of the sailors going down with a bout of sickness early on for a day or more.

In the individual competition the top-ranked Bermudian was Spice Valley’s Brian Bulhoes who came through in 19th overall. He was followed by James Anfossi in 30th and Blake Burgess in 54th — all three of whom each won a race.

Following were Kyle Burgess in 89th, McKenzie Cooper in 103rd, Renee Greenslade in 113th, Christopher Sposato in 145th, Owen Siese in 146th, Kelsey Durham in 157th, Connor Astwood in 170th, Georgia Lewis in 176th, Ryan Powell in 182nd and Sam Stan in 183rd.

Meanwhile, in the team event, where teams of four squared off against other countries under match-racing conditions, Bermuda entered two sides this year.

In the first round, Bermuda One lost to Columbia and Bermuda Two beat the Virgin Islands while in the next round the two Bermuda teams were forced to square off against each other with Bermuda One coming out on top.

Bermuda One then beat Uruguay’s second team before going on to lose in the quarter-finals to Puerto Rico, the eventual winners.