By Paris Henken & Kaitlin Driscoll
We arrived at Lake Minnetonka, Minnesota and were shuttled to the Lake Minnetonka Sailing School located on an Island. It was definitely a new experience to be on an Island and to be shuttled back and forth to the sailing location. Ida Lewis starts with two days of clinic. The coaching staff was unbelievable with a variety of collegiate coaches, high school coaches, and even Olympians. We had the opportunity to work with all the coaches there and each gave different feedback and helped us to grow as sailors.
The first day of the clinic brought lightId breeze about 6-7 knots and we mainly worked on boat speed. The 2nd clinic day was beautiful breezy weather (about 15 knots). In the nice wind we did some practice races. Paris and I felt fast and we hoped for some breeze during racing.
The first day of racing brought 6-7 knots. We started the first race off really well and were fast off the line. We ended up rounding the windward mark in 1st but quickly discovered how difficult lake sailing is. We struggled to keep our position. We finished a total of 3 races and ended the day in a solid 13th.
The next day of racing brought even lighter breeze. We had a hard time powering up in the light air. The 2nd race was especially challenging due to the fact the
wind died in the middle of the race. We barely made the time limit with almost half the fleet behind us unable to cross the finish line in time. We were determined to finish the day strong and were happy to end the day with a top 10. After our 2nd day of racing we were in 20th. The point spread was very close and we wanted just one more race. But the wind was just not in our favor. The last day of racing brought very light winds from a variety of directions and we were unable to get any races off.
Overall we learned a lot about lake sailing especially with being patient about what side you choose. With good decisions in the last race we felt like we improved a lot. Thank you SDYC for giving us such a wonderful opportunity! Also thanks to our host family!