In late December 2022 I competed in the 2022 Tuuci International Orange Bowl Regatta in the ILCA 4 fleet. Here is how it went.
I took a redeye from San Diego to Fort Lauderdale, and then took a 30-minute uber to Coral Gables, where my Mom and I checked into our hotel room. Since I only got 2 hours of sleep on the plane, I took a nap. But then as a fun way to get out of the hotel, and to stay awake because of the time change, my mom and I took a hour long bus ride to the Everglades where we rode on an air boat to see alligators. However, it was very cold and windy, so we did not see any. But after I got to hold a baby alligator.
On December 26th, or the Monday before Orange Bowl, was my first and only day of training. I woke up extra early to walk across the street to pick up my charter ILCA boat from Simmons Boat Works, where I had to install my traveler, multiple blocks, lines and my hiking strap system. Then, I met up with my team for practice and to tune in my new sail and boat. The conditions were 12-17 knot winds with a slow current going out. One of my coaches Rosie Chapman knows the Canadian coach so they set up a racecourse where we ran multiple races. Then I headed in for time to relax and get ready for the first day tomorrow.
On the first day of the ILCA 4 Orange Bowl, it was supposed to be a 15-knot day with the breeze slowly dying, and the current pushing out very slowly. I was towed out by my other coach Sussanah Pyatt, where it was very choppy and a steady 18 knots. But the race committee was not ready, so we were postponed for about an hour, when the breeze died down to 12-14 knots, but the ILCA 4’s are the last start. The order goes, ILCA 7’s, 5minutes, ILCA 6 Blue, 5 Minutes, ILCA 6 Yellow, 5 minutes, ILCA 4. Mind you, each start is also 5 minutes, so that means it was a total of 30 minutes until my start. So, when my race started it had died down to 7-10 knots. At the start, the pin was favored but not by a lot, and a lot of the congestion was at the pin. So, I decided to start right at the boat with 2 other boats, right off the line, and I rolled them and tacked onto port where I was in 5th. I decided to play it safe and just lead the fleet, where I was very fast but at the windward mark I was underlay just by a little, and there was a boat windward to me, so I had to gybe around where I was placed in 7th. But on the downwind I was very fast, so I caught back up to 5th, but I rounded the wrong leeward mark so I was back to 10th. But the wind had died down to around 6-7, so it was very light, and I was even faster. Then, on the reach I caught back up to 8th, but sadly on the last leg to the finish the person in 9th started rocking because there was no judge on the ILCA 4 course so he passed me.
On the second day of the Orange Bowl was my 14th Birthday! I got a lack of sleep from the night before because of the time change but was still ready for the windy day upcoming. I got a tow out because it was still only 16 knots. But right before my start it spiked up to 18-24 knots, and we were supposed to have 4 long races, but also we were on the ILCA 6 and 7 course so it would be even longer, so I knew it would be a long day. My plan for the races was to stay upright and gain as many boats as I can on the down winds, and I achieved those goals. I did not flip and in total I passed 6-10 boats on the down winds and reaches. But there were a lot of different phases on the courses. Such as, off the start it was mildly flat, but near the middle it got choppy. But then on the top of the course the wind would pick up to around 24-27 knots.
On the third day of the Orange Bowl, I talked to my coach about improving, and as she was also small but had a very successful ILCA6 career, she said I need to pull on more controls but also sheet effectively. It has been very cold for the time I was there but today it was supposed to get hotter, but also windier. It was windy right as I launched so I decided to reach out to the course which was very fun. The conditions were supposed to be 20-25 but it was 18-23 with the tide going out again. The racing was still too windy for me but it was lighter than yesterday so that is better for me. The sections were very similar to yesterday. But on the second of the three races the chop got really tall, so I was going really fast surfing a wave and then dropped down and nosedived, I am pretty sure my rudder was far out of the water and my cockpit was full of water.
On the 4th and last Day of the Orange Bowl Regatta, It was supposed to be very light, about 4-5 knots, so the RC postponed us for 45 minutes, and at that time my friends and I played games. But then the RC sent us out to the venue. I got towed out for the wind to be 2-3 knots so it was glassy waters. That means the RC postponed us once again, but all of the other fleets were racing, such as the Opti’s, C420’s and in the Open Orange Bowl 29ers, Nacra 15’s and Flying Dutchman. So they moved the race course closer to the C420’s but it did not matter because it was still too light to race us so they blew several horns and put up the “abandon all races for the day flag”.
It was overall a very fun experience, but I still have a lot to work on, such as keeping good boatspeed on the upwinds, and also starting in the general favored ⅓ of the start line.
I would like to thank the San Diego Yacht Club competition fund for supporting me on this regatta.