(13) and Jesse Kirkland (12) are set to represent Bermuda at the Optimist World Championships in La Coruna, Spain later this month.

Frith will captain the team which will compete against 265 other sailors from 82 countries over 15 races between July 18 and 29.

Each start will see 90 boats on the line as competitors will be divided into six fleets with the sailors racing each other in a round-robin format.

The Bermuda youngsters will be accompanied by national Optimist coach, Argentine Pablo Weber, team leader Paul Doughty and national country representative Wayne Brown.

They aim to arrive a week early to practice in local conditions with the Argentine team, one of the best in the world. Coach Weber declined to coach the Argentine team because of his commitment to Bermuda.

Twelve sailors competed for the five positions on the Bermuda team in a 15-race qualfication process in the Great Sound. Ten of the days were held in 22-28 knot breezes. By comparison, winds in La Coruna will likely range between eight and 18 knots, building in intensity over the three races each day.

Goals for the local team are to place two sailors in the top half of the fleet, to beat one sailor from the major countries and for each sailor to penetrate the top 10 in any given race.

Bermuda's participation and preparation has been helped over the past 12 months by sponsorship from Harrington International, a Swiss Re Company, and will have included 47 full coaching days since December with coach Weber.

While it has been impossible to replicate big fleet starts in Bermuda, much focus has been put on boat handling, speed and physical fitness with team members performing as many as 200 sit-ups and push-ups in one session.

Meanwhile, other members of the year-round local Optimist fleet will also compete overseas this summer.

Bronwyn Baralt (15) and Edward Thompson (13) will journey to Mexico to compete in the North American Championships along with most of the Worlds team. And Renae Black (14), Chloe Kempe (13), Oliver Kempe (12), Sean Bouchard (10) and Elijah Simmons (10) will compete in the New England Championships in Maine with 300 competitors.