Three young Bermudian sailors have completed an excellent year at Christchurch School in Virginia.

Jono Dill, a senior, Blake Burgess, a junior, and Kyle Burgess, a freshman, were all on the varsity sailing team.

Blake Burgess received Most Valuable Skipper Award and Mid Atlantic Sailing Association Top Sailor of the Year Award while Kyle Burgess received the Coaches Award for the Leukemia Cup Regatta.

Christchurch School won the 11th annual Leukemia Cup Junior Challenge on May 1 – the only high school event associated with the Leukemia Cup Regatta Series.

The regatta included 11 schools from around Virginia, all of which raised funds for the Leukemia Lymphoma Society.

The day proved to be a great advertisement for junior sailing. The wind started to fill in the early morning and built to a steady 10-15 knots. Christchurch led the event despite line-up changes due to SAT exams.

Sailing in the A division for Christchurch were Dill along with crew Archer Ruffin and Kyle Burgess with crew Sam Keesee.

The two boats dominated the competition throughout the day, beating the second placed team by 29 points.

Representing Christchurch in the B division were Eric Siegel and Zach Erwin and the team of Matthew Wallin and Parker Ward. They had an impressive day, beating other teams in the division by 54 points.

At the end of the day the Christchurch team easily won the event. They were also honoured for raising over $1,800 for the Leukemia Lymphoma Society. Collectively the competing teams raised over $7,000.

Meanwhile, the Virginia Interscholastic Sailing Association held their Spring Fleet Racing Championships at Christchurch for the first time on Saturday, May 15. Benefiting from home water advantage, Christchurch were able to adjust to the changing wind conditions throughout the day and changed their racing tactics that kept them at the top of the fleet throughout.

Christchurch sailed easily to their second state title of the year, defeating second placed Norfolk Collegiate School by 25 points.

Sailing for Christchurch in A division were the team of Blake Burgess and Emily Bowman and Jono Dill and Archer Ruffin.

"It was a fantastic conclusion to a great year of sailing led by very talented sailors," said coach Jill Petrone.