Bermuda?s 2008 Olympic Games hopeful Rajae Woods departs for Weymouth, England tomorrow where he will compete in the Laser Class at the Volvo Youth Sailing ISAF World Championship 2006.

The 18-year-old Cedarbridge Academy student qualified for next week?s championships in the UK during last summer?s Bermuda Nationals and the past several months has seen him pumping the irons in the gym and getting in as much practice on the surf as he possibly can.

?I?ve definitely been putting in as much sailing hours as I can on the water and working out in the gym because this is very physically demanding boat. So you have to prepare yourself physically,? Woods said.

?These boats are very powerful and have a lot of sail area and so you have to be strong and really know what you are doing. There are little tricks to the trade you have to be aware of and stuff like that.?

The Volvo Youth Sailing ISAF World Championship will be held from July 12 to 21 at the same venue which has been chosen to host the 2012 Olympic sailing competition.

It will be Woods? first international commitment competing in the class since competing at the Annual Orange Bowl International Youth Regatta in Biscayne Bay, Florida last year where he placed 23rd in a fleet of 43 competing in a full-rig Laser for the first time.

Accompanying Woods to the UK tomorrow are past Optimist rivals Sean Bouchard and Cameron Pimental who will both compete in the 420s.