Two of the Island’s best young sailors will attempt to sail around Bermuda next month in 14-foot open-decked Laser dinghies to raise money for their sport.

Bermuda High School’s Eleanor Gardner, 16, and Warwick Academy’s Ryan Saraiva, 15, — who have both qualified to represent the Island at this year’s Youth Sailing ISAF World Championships — will tackle the challenging circumnavigation on Saturday, March 3.

The journey is around 40 nautical miles and is expected to take the duo around 12 hours, depending on the wind.

Both will set out from Spanish Point Boat Club at five in the morning so as to be back before nightfall.

Gardner said yesterday she was looking forward to the experience, adding that the stamina required would be ideal preparation for the upcoming World Championships in Ontario, Canada.

“This is quite exciting — I will make sure I make it all the way around,” she said.

“Sailing around Bermuda is also a form of endurance training which will be good for the event (World Championships).”

President of the Bermuda Optimist Dingy Association (BODA), John Gardner, warned that sailing around Bermuda at this time of year would be an immense challenge.

But he said he had every confidence that the two youngsters were good enough to pull it off.

“Bermuda’s weather is very fickle at this time of year, so timing will be the key as well as stamina and will-power,” he said.

“This is what it has taken these two to get this far and this is what it will take to be successful in March.”

Both Gardner and Saraiva are graduates of the Optimist Dinghy Class and were nurtured through the BODA programme from the age of ten.

They both competed in the Byte CII Worlds held in Bermuda last summer and began training and competing in the Laser class in the fall of 2006.

“These are formidable young sailors — so if the wind is just right on the day I think they may make it faster than 12 hours. I would like to join in too. It is a great thing they are doing,” said experienced Master sailor Brett Wright yesterday.

The duo are hoping to raise in excess of $9,000 by completing the voyage.

The money will be put towards both their trip to the World Championships and the creation of a Bermuda Sloop Foundation bursary for future aspiring sailors.

Anybody wishing to make a donation can contact Pam Saraiva at psaraiva[AT]cgarch.bm.