Yukon resident Alex Kastelein recently returned from a summer of sailing and he brought an extra box of hardware with him along with some bragging rights.

Kastelein, who moved to Whitehorse about two years ago from Burlington, Ont., has been an avid sailor for several years and a competitive racer for three.

'My dad took us out sailing when we were really little and then he put us in sailing school,' explained the Grade 10 student at Vanier Catholic Secondary School. 'I enjoyed it and became really good at it.'

Kastelein returned to his former home town last June, where he met up with skip Ben Gravelle. The two spent the summer racing their Laser 2, two-man boat in various events, as well as undergoing some intensive training.

They trained five days a week, from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., with five of those hours actually on the water. Competition included five or six regattas, with about 10 races per event. It's safe to say the duo logged a lot of hours.

In the end, it certainly paid off, as Kastelein and Gravelle found themselves on both the provincial and international podiums.

The CORK YouthFest sailing championships were held in Kingston, Ont., Aug. 16-17.

In their Laser 2, which is a 16-footer made out of fiberglass, Kastelein and Gravelle raced their way to a bronze medal, also taking the points lead in the race for the Ontario provincial championship.

From there, it was on to the CORK Series 1 event, or the North American Laser 2 championships, the following week, where the pair once again placed third.

Teams competing in the event came from as far away as New Zealand, California and even Afghanistan, although Kastelein and Gravelle were fairly familiar with their own division's competition.

One of the teams they were in medal contention with was also from Ontario.

'It feels pretty good,' said Kastelein about the international result.

'I feel accomplished. It's pretty exciting because it's one of the biggest regattas in North America.

'We had good coaches and we've been sailing for a lot of years.'

With their two third-place results, Kastelein and Gravelle cemented the Ontario provincial title for Laser 2 boats.

'The Ontario championships were a series of four races and whatever place you finished, they added it up as points,' said Kastelein. 'Whoever gets the lowest points, ends up in first overall.

'We finished first, second, third and then third in our races, so we took the gold medal.'

Now back in Whitehorse, Kastelein is looking forward to defending his provincial title next summer.

He's also planning to continue playing squash in the territory, as the new season gets underway later this month.

Eventually, he's hoping to complete the qualifications needed to become a sailing coach.