In late July I competed in the 2022 USODA Opti National Championships at The Gorge. We flew into Portland, OR, and after a long wait for a rental car, drove to Cascade Locks on the Columbia River to prepare for a week of windy practice and racing. The next day I got my charter boat, rigged, and launched for practice from a rocky beach, which was different than what I was used to. I thought it was going to be very windy and choppy, but it was only very choppy and puffy. But then throughout the day the wind would turn on and be around 15 knots then die to 10 knots. But then on the long sail up the river the wind picked up to 20+ knots. What I learned today was that the up winds are very fast, and the down winds are very slow but feel fast because of the current. Also, I learned that the gorge would funnel the breeze by the wind going in the valleys and picking up speed.
On the next day, I woke up to leave for the sailing center right away and rigged up, to see at around 10:00 the gorge was flat water with no wind. I had an hour -long meeting to see that the wind filled in to around 10-15 knots. I went out and our team did a very long down wind, then my coaches made a very large course, and we did some practice races with the Lauderdale yacht club. But then on the second race the wind picked up to around 20-25+ knots. Something I learned today was that the current is very strong because it is a river, and is always pulling you up the course and pushing you over layline and over during the start.
Day 4 was a short day of practice and prepare for racing on Day 5. On Day 5 I woke up bright and early at 7:00 am, and quickly ate breakfast then got down to the yacht club and rigged really fast. Then I had an early skippers meeting and went out at 10:00. I tested the line and course with my friend and checked all my rigging to make sure that all my sail ties, sprit pole and boom vang. It was a steady 10-15 knots and had puffs rolling down the right side of the course. During the first race I saw on the right side there was a wind clump filling in, after I caught the luff I was top 10. Then on the second race the wind picked up to 20 plus knots and was very puffy like the usual gorge. On the last part of the second race the wind picked up to 30-35 knots. It was still very puffy and if you went to the channel part of the river the waves were very tall and almost breaking.
Day 6 was the second day of racing and the day started already windy and wavy, around 15-20 knots. I tested like yesterday and then started to look up the course and find puffs rolling down the course. On the first race at the downwind I was surfing big waves, I was looking behind me to see if I had clear wind but I did not see the big wave that I surfed then nose dived and capsized. I got my boat up quick and quickly bailed and caught up where I passed 15 boats on the last leg of the race. Then again at the end of the second race the wind picked up to 35+ knots. I had fun surfing the even bigger waves in the even breezier wind. Today I noticed that the “tide” was rising, but it can’t because it is a river, Wrong! They slowed the dam water down the river so the water was moving up and slower.
Day 7, today I woke to the cold breezy morning where I rigged then had to change and go to my meeting. Today was the championship day, I was in silver. The wind started off at 15-20 knots. In the first race I got 12th and was happy because I knew it was going to be a good rest of the day. But then on the second race it picked up to 28- 35 knots. But in the start of the second race, it was a U flag like all of the other races and I was heading someone up at 39 seconds but they did not go up because they said “YOU CAN'T HEAR ME UP ABOVE THE LINE '' but it is legal to. I got the same score on the second race. My coach said the third and last race it was blowing 35-40 knots. I still got 6th and had to go to measurement and get checked, which I passed.
Day 8, Today was the last day of the 2022 Opti nationals. It was supposed to be very light and slightly choppy, which it was. It was already hot and light on the first race where I should have played the right, but I didn’t and went right, and on the downwind I was on the unfavored side where I lost more boats. But on the last upwind to the finish I played the right and gained 15 boats. I played the left on the second race but it was too light so I lost a lot of boats, but also in the middle of the first downwind one of the judge boats went right in front of me and made a pretty big wake. On the last race I started right and played tactically where I was in 6th on the last race, but I went right again on the last upwind and lost 10 boats. I tried to finish strong and ultimately my results qualified me for the 2023 Optimist Team Trials.
From this regatta I think I learned a lot, like stabilizing in heavy wind, or sailing in strong current. I hope to sail here again in the future. Thank you to the SDYC Comp Fund for their support with this regatta.