One of the most remarkable success stories of this year's Bermuda International Invitational Race Week was the manner in which teenagers Lance Fraser, Catalina Sposato, James Anfossi, Jason Saints and Jordan Saints held their own racing among a highly competitive J-24 fleet.

Led by skipper Fraser, who also sails in Snipes, the youngsters finished runners-up in the class, surpassing their own expectations on their Race Week debut.

Fraser and his colleagues grabbed a share of the lead on day one and remained in the thick of contention for bragging rights right until the final race of the 13-race series.

Reflecting upon the week, the Warwick Academy head boy commented: "We are really pleased with the result – it's been a really good week of sailing.

"Overall we are very happy. We had good crew work, the competition was very good and so to finish second is definitely a good result for us."

Fraser reckoned he and his crew gained valued experience during the week of competition.

"We definitely gained from the experience as this was our first major J-24 regatta sailing together.

"And we are just really pleased to get through the week without killing each other," he smiled.

"The competition was challenging and so were the conditions, especially the first couple of days with the light air and shifty stuff.

"It was really tough mentally to make decisions because if you made a mistake the entire fleet would pass you.

"Today (yesterday) was quite tough physically as well in the windier conditions."

Fraser and crew issued a stern warning early in the regatta that they would be no pushovers and remained a threat right until the end.

"I think after the first day we figured out we had a chance to win the regatta and so we set a goal to finish in the top three. So to reach our goal is a great achievement," he added.

After a few near misses, the young J-24 sailors scored their first bullet on the penultimate day of the regatta.

"We were all very happy to finally get that bullet," Fraser said.

"It is kind of hard on the mind to think about the races we could've won to win the regatta. But in the end Trevor (Boyce) just sailed better. He's a great sailor and deserved the win."

Boyce returned the compliment.

"They are pretty good now and are only going to get better with time," he said. "It was very close racing indeed and we were pleased to beat the kids from the dinghy club."