Eleven hundred sailors under age 15 competed at Lake Garda in Italy this month, and guess who won in the boys' division and overall?

A teenager from Ukraine.

Who finished first among the girls and seventh overall? A teenager from Ukraine.

More than a thousand very young sailors came from around the world to compete in Optimist class boats — single-handed racing dinghies — and the top female and male winners were from the nation that has inspired international support for its fierce resistance to invasion by Russia.

Optimist races are a regular sight on Niantic Bay, the Thames River, Alewife Cove and Stonington Harbor when the weather turns warmer. You may have seen the clustering tiny sails, wheeling for the best start and maneuvering not to touch any surface but water, and not have realized they are handled by children as young as 8 or 9. Knowing that, the sight is even more breathtaking, not only for the grace and beauty of the dance but for the fearlessness and skill of such young sailors.

The lightweight Optis are popular as starter boats for the youngest beginners, who skipper them without anyone else aboard. Local yacht clubs and NESS (New England Science and Sailing) use them to introduce youngsters to sailing. Adults in motor boats circle through the courses, and any sailor who flips a boat or otherwise runs into trouble gets immediate assistance.

Still, Opti racing is a kind of boot camp for kids to figure out whether they like the thrills enough to embrace the wet, the sometimes cold, the always hard work and the requirement of being a good sport. Those who stick with it develop a self reliance that goes beyond sailing.

Members of Optimist Sailing Team Ukraine provided an example of that sturdiness in March. The Ukrainian team traditionally wins international medals, and 15 of them, including a coach and some parents, had left home in January with plans to race in Spain, Turkey and Italy. About a month later, Russia invaded their country.

The team was training in the waters off Bodrum, Turkey, when a mega-yacht belonging to the sanctioned Russian oligarch and Chelsea Football Club owner Roman Abramovich arrived in port. That same week the team's homeport of Odessa, on the Black Sea, came under Russian attack. Members of the team boarded a small boat flying the blue and yellow Ukrainian flag, amended with the words "No War," and approached the yacht.

A spokesman for the team told BBC News that they had with them kids whose families were back in Ukraine. By that time, war had been raging for nearly a month. In a video interview the spokesman said the Turkish Coast Guard told the team aboard the little boat that they understood the protest, but the visitors must obey the laws of the host country. The Coast Guard asked them to move back 20 meters from the giant yacht. They complied.

In a posting on the website of the International Optimist Dinghy Association before the Lake Garda race, the Ukrainian coach, Pavlo Dontsov, expressed thanks to people of other countries whose support let "the kids keep sailing and represent their country." He added that "they are also able to help other sailors from Ukraine who are somewhere in Europe and/or who are trying to get out of Ukraine."

Most of the sailors' parents were still in Odessa and the Kyiv region, where "some of them are defending, and some others are volunteering," he said, adding that the teenagers "continually worry about their parents, relatives, friends, and all the people that are still in Ukraine." 

"The best we can do is to let our kids to sail, make good results and represent our country with honor," Dontsov said.

It's a tradition at international Optimist events for the sailors to swap hats, shirts, pinneys and other gear with their team insignias. A kid from the USA might come home with a Thai hat, a Swedish tee and new friends to text on other continents.

In the context of a badly troubled world, even the Olympics felt out of step; dinghy-racing may seem like child's play in dire times. Many of these kids, however, are going to grow up to serve in their country's Coast Guard or study ocean science or marine biology. They will be able to spot likeminded peers from other nations; they might even recognize some of them by face and name from their years as Opti sailors. 

The Ukrainian Optimist winners already know what it feels like to be recognized internationally for what they accomplished under their country's flag, and it helps.

Lisa McGinley is a member of The Day Editorial Board.