By DAHALIA SMITH, NG Sports Reporter

Genesis Academy fifth grader Thomas Treco is ready to set sail!

He is expected to compete at the 4th Bahamas Sailing Association's (BSA) Optimist National Championships, which is sponsored by the Rotary Club of East Nassau. A record number of 80 sailors are expected to participate in the championships which will run on Saturday and Sunday at Montagu Bay. Treco is also a crew member on the Sweet Island Gal, a C-class sloop, and is expected to represent New Providence this weekend.

"I have been sailing for three years now. Last year, I sailed in the green fleet and I did well. This time around I will be sailing in the white fleet. Since last year's nationals I have gained a lot more experience sailing," said Treco. "For the most part, I sailed on A, B, and C-class sloops at all of the major regattas. I also attended optimist junior regattas in Abaco and Eleuthera since the third nationals. This time around I am going to try and do my best seeing as I will be sailing in the white class. Today (Saturday) the BSA hosted warm up optimist races and I was able to get some practice in. I did well as I finished fifth out of 32 boats," explained the Olympic sailing hopeful.

The 80 participants representing Eleuthera, Abaco, New Providence, Grand Bahama and Long Island are expected to be separated into four fleets. Four boats are expected from Eleuthera, 10 boats are expected from Abaco, 19 from Grand Bahama and 11 from Long Island. The four fleets to be highlighted include white (ages 10 and under), blue (ages 12 and 12), red (ages 13-15) and green (novice sailors).

Dylan Christie won the overall title last year and the blue fleet, but overall champion Christie is not expected to return this year. Chris Sands was the overall champion the first two years and is the defending red fleet champion - he is expected to return. Dylan Thompson out of Abaco won the green fleet and Dylan Lightbourne won the white fleet last year. Theron Maillis from Long Island who finished third overall last year arrived in New Providence Monday. Last year, 56 junior sailors participated and in 2006 the registered sloops were in the mid 40's according to BSA's Youth Program Director, Jimmy Lowe.

"In all, we expect to have in excess of 80 boats out this weekend. Last year we had in the neighborhood of 56 boats and we were shooting for 60 but we fell short. This year we are pushing for 80 and I think we are going to make that this year. For Governor's Harbour, Eleuthera and Abaco this will be the first time they are represented at the regatta. Those islands were represented in some of our sunfish events but never in the optimist class," said Lowe.

Lowe explained that the sailing bodies on the respective islands are very independent.

"We have been concentrating on promotion within the islands. We accomplish this by getting the communities involved - we never set up a program for an island," he said. "We go in and assist them with setting up the club, so they have to be the ones who want to do it. In return, they go out and raise funds through fairs and cook outs," explained Lowe.

Lowe extended appreciation to the gold (Rotary Club of East Nassau), silver and bronze sponsors. For the first three years, Royal Bank of Canada sponsored the Nationals. This year, they are silver sponsors along with the Lyford Cay Foundation and Kentucky Fried Chicken. The bronze sponsors include the Ministry of Sports, the Ministry of Tourism, Odyssey Aviation and KPMG. The top sailors from the Nationals and other BSA qualifying races will get a chance to represent The Bahamas at the Florida Orange Bowl Junior Sailing Championships next year.