In December I flew to Miami, FL to compete in the Opti Fleet at the Orange Bowl Regatta. The host club was Coral Reef Yacht Club. My mom and I arrived early Saturday morning as we took a red eye from San Diego. Our hotel room was not ready yet, so we took a nap in the warm morning in a cabana by the pool. I was scheduled to do a clinic with the Lauderdale Yacht Club starting on Tuesday, so we had time to get over our jetlag, watch the Cressy Finals and get my charter boat. The charter company was running behind, so we helped them by building dollies so we could get our boat and new sail. We were happy to be in Coral Gables with the nice weather and beautiful bay.
On the first day of practice, it was a very windy and choppy day, around 14-20 knots. When we got on the water, my coach noticed on his radar a thunderstorm was coming and he also got a waterspout warning. So my team and I went in for about an hour and talked about tactics then went out again to even more wind. I also learned in this practice to put my mainsheet in between my legs and scoot back a little, which helped with lifting my bow in the waves. Lastly, one more thing I learned was to pump in the waves better, like to trim up to your chest and let out really fast and stop the sail to flick the leach.
On the next day of practice, it was a shifty up and down day. The wind would be a nice 12-14 knots but then a cloud would come and shut it down to 4-6 knots. During the meeting, the team was talking about the current, and where it would come from. I did not realize this until today, but Biscayne Bay is very shallow. Like when I am in the middle of the bay, I can sometimes just see the bottom.
On my last day of practice, I had to wake up very early and get ready for a very hot day. When I went to the yacht club there was a stable breeze, 3-5 knots, but right after our meeting the wind died. We still towed out, but just sat out the water. It was very sunny and hot so I had to keep putting on sunscreen and hydrating.
On the first day of racing I checked the wind in the morning and it said it should be about 6 knots but then when I got there it was 1 knot. I got rigged and ready then went to the skipper’s meeting and they said they will probably postpone until 12:00. At 1:00 we got the signal to launch, so everybody went out on a small launch dock and were towed. A unique thing about the launch dock at Coral Reef Yacht Club is that to launch there is a 7ft drop and when it’s the low tide about 10ft. but the tow was very long because we were going against the tide. The racing was not that bad, but it was very light and choppy. Then, on the second day of racing, it was supposed to be a nice day with 10 knots of breeze and stable conditions. But it was the opposite of that, with 5 knots of breeze and shifty conditions. Also, the water was very choppy and very hard to get through.
The third day of racing was the first day of the championship racing, and I made it to the Silver fleet. The wind was very light and choppy, while the sun was shining out from the clouds. It was very cool to see the bottom of the seafloor because it was very shallow, and the water was extremely clear.
On the final day of racing, the conditions were similar to the day before, but I had to wake up at around 5:45 AM and rig at 7:00 then launch at 7:30. But the wind was very light, so we had to postpone launching until 9:00. When my team and I went out we got postponed again until 12:00, but this time it was on the water. It was very fun though, and because my coach towed us to a sand bar and everyone swam around and waited for the RC. At 11:50 the wind filled into 3 knots, and they started a race which was very hard because of the light wind, chop, and very strong current.
This regatta I think I could do better, but there were very tricky conditions. I wish I could practice more to get used to these conditions. But there were two main things that I could work on, 1. Have better accelerations 2. Practice more in light wind. Thank you to the SDYC Comp Fund for making it possible for me to compete in this regatta.