St Francis Yacht Club in San Francisco was the host for four days of challenging city front sailing for the c420 North American Championship. With the water temp in the 50’s and the air temp only in the 60’s, we all wore full spray gear and wetsuits. Not to mention, most days had a lingering fog layer concealing the sun for most of the sailing time.
The trip started with an unfortunate 2 hour plane delay which limited our only practice time sailing next to the Golden Gate Bridge. However, my crew, Ximena Escobar, and I were able to fit in about an hour of sailing in the early evening. The conditions lived up to the legend of San Francisco sailing, with 20 knots, 1- foot chop, and frequent capsizing which would be a trend over the next few days of racing. On the first morning of the regatta, 93 boats launched on a single launch ramp starting right at 10am with a noon start. They split the boats into yellow and blue fleet, which became gold and silver after two days of qualifications. Right after leaving the harbor, you were immediately greeted by 15 knots of wind that would only grow as the day went on. The second and third days would reach as high as 27 knots. But most of the races were 20 to 25 knots. Although this venue was not very shifty, it had a lot of variables. The constant powerful current made starting a tricky process. The large chop required you to reaccelerate every time you smashed into a big wave. Not to mention these variables took away my focus from thinking about the race and how to interact with other boats. I think this is a big reason that we didn’t sail as well as in the past. I was catching up on these new variables, while sailors with more experience than me could focus on the little things to have an advantage. Despite the result, I really enjoyed the regatta. Being able to plane all the time and even upwind was very adventurous. Even though we flipped at least once a day, it was refreshing to sail in conditions not even close to San Diego weather and conditions.
I would like to personally like to thank the SDYC comp fund for enabling me to sail in San Francisco. It was an honor to represent SDYC at a national event like this and I am always so grateful for their support to junior sailing.