On October 20 my dad and I flew to San Francisco where I was sailing in St. Francis Yacht Club’s Fall Dinghy Regatta in my 29er, we met up with my Crew Wes LaRue who with his dad Jon drove the four SDYC teams boats up to San Francisco. Saturday morning we had breakfast and then unloaded and rigged our boats. After making a few grip tape improvements to our boat we met with our two coaches for a great briefing on the day and what to expect. San Francisco Bay and the club is really pretty!
We got on the water and did some speed tuning with 3 of our teammates where we checked our upwind and downwind speed and angles. In the afternoon the breeze built to 13 with a flooding current right on the city front which was really pretty. The racing was super competitive and very fun. The wind all afternoon steadily shifted to the left and a dying breeze. The last 2 races were really difficult with the left shifts, dying breeze and a ripping flood tide. We happily ended Saturday in fifth. We sailed back to the club, unrigged had our de-brief and hot showers, San Francisco is cold!
The forecast for Sunday was rain and 15 knots with the same flood tide. We had our morning briefing with the coaches and went sailing. Wes and I did our normal pre-race routine while the Race Committee was under AP. The wind continued to build which was odd because it was raining too. We raced two races in 16 knots and building. This was the first time I had raced my 29ER in that much breeze and big chop. most importantly though was that Wes and I both had so much fun racing in big wind. It was a little scary for me at times but we didn’t flip during the racing. We finished the regatta in 5th which we were happy with as we keep improving on our results.
When we got in we unrigged, loaded the boats on the trailer, did a debrief, got showered and went to the prizing giving presentation. We had a good dinner at the club and then a very interesting Uber and BART ride to the airport and got home after midnight. My parents made me go to school Monday!
St Francis Yacht Club put on a great regatta in challenging conditions, and a beautiful venue.
I would like to thank HPYS and JJ Fetter for all of the organizing and hard work that nobody but us sailor see. I especially would like to thank SDYC, the Competition Fund Committee for their financial assistance and the membership who continue to support youth sailing.
With Gratitude,
Julia Stewart