The 29er team of Joshua Greenslade and Blake Burgess finished strongly after a slow start at this week's Kiel Week Regatta in Germany, earning the praise of coach Paul Doughty who described the pair's debut in the fleet as encouraging.

After the opening two races Bermuda's representatives were placed at 66th among the 97 boat fleet and not in the best of spirits to say the least.

"Race one ended in a protest at the finish line which they lost," coach Doughty said.

"The young sailors were frustrated as they slipped further down the fleet."

Greenslade and Burgess held their own sailing upwind only to lose valuable ground heading downwind pinning their hopes on a worn out spinnaker which didn't help their cause.

Thanks to a good samaritan, the pair were loaned a new spinnaker, which eventually did the trick as they remained competitive in the final two races, placing a highly creditable third and fifth to finish the prestigious regatta on a high note.

"The team managed to borrow a better spinnaker that was much newer and in better conditions than the one we bought from Bermuda," Doughty added. "Armed with a new spinnaker and good starts, the team showed major progress of understanding skiff tactics and finally could control situations downwind."

With Kiel Week now behind them, Greenslade and Burgess will remain in Germany for the next seven days to prepare for next month's Youth World Championships in Denmark where they will meet up with colleagues Haley Powell, Libby Brewin and William Hutchings.

*Stevie Dickinson and Pat Young swept line honours during last weekend's Marsha Lambert Comet Regatta in the Great Sound.

Sailing onboard Kitty Hawk, Dickinson and Young were unflappable, scoring four straight bullets to win the regatta by a three-point margin over runners up Gladwin Lambert and crew Greg Proctor.

Third place honours went to Scott Fox and veteran crew Colin Clarke while Howard Lee - one of the most senior skippers in the fleet - placed fourth respectively.