Recently, my team and I attended the Rose Cup Youth Match Race Nationals. The event was held in Marblehead, Massachusetts, and spanned over five days. The first two days were composed of extensive debriefs, boat handling, and on-the-water practice. The priority was to get all the teams up to match racing speed. The renowned coach Dave Perry led the regatta and clinic teaching all the sailors the intricacies of match racing. Match racing in a nutshell is two boats that sail against each other with certain rules related to this style of sailing. Each boat sails against every other team in a round-robin series. After the round robin is complete, the top eight teams move to a quarter finals, then a semi-finals, and finally the last two boats remaining sail to the best of three against each other.
My team and I were fairly new to match racing so we were open and patient with ourselves throughout the event. After the first two practice days, the regatta began. The wind was very light the first two days, so keeping speed and having perfect time on distance to the line were critical. Having a superior start was the deciding factor for each race. So, trying to constantly run the line and get in sink with the conditions presented to us was paramount. Along with the light air, every day had a large swell bouncing the boats around the course making the close boat-on-boat situation even harder. The new conditions in the keelboat, crew work, and match racing objectives were the greatest barriers we had to overcome.
After the first two days, we qualified for the quarterfinals which was a best-of-five elimination round against another assigned team. We unfortunately struggled with our time on distance winning one race and losing another three so our competitor moved on to the semi-finals. We stood fifth in the event but went on to race against two other teams. The first team we handily beat holding on to our fifth place. The second team we faced beat us in the best-of-three series leaving us to finish sixth overall at the event.
The Rose Cup was an incredible experience for my team. We are grateful to have the support of the San Diego Yacht Club to attend such a prestigious event and learn from so many other talented sailors and coaches.