The 2023 ILCA US National Championships was a great experience. The regatta was held at the Crescent Sail Yacht Club/Grosse Pointe Yacht Club, located on Lake St. Clair, Michigan.
I flew in on Tuesday, 3 days before the regatta started. On Thursday I picked up my charter boat from the US One Design tent, and set up my personal gear like my traveler, daggerboard bungy, outhaul, and Vang. Then my team and I went out to sail on the lake. It was a very up and down wind reaching from 14 to 5 knots, and short chop. We did a few up downs and then connected with the team from GCYSA to do a few practice races. After that we headed in and got ready for the next day.
On Day 1, It was hot and sunny and supposed to be light and choppy again. I rigged up and noticed that the line was very very long to launch my boat, but then me and my friends noticed a big boat slip that we could launch off of, it was about 5 feet up from the water. We tried it and it worked. It was hot and choppy on the first day. There were a total of 25 boats racing. I started the regatta with 2 solid races, a 6 and a 4, but then on the third race I had a bad start and was using too much rudder for the chop. So I got an 11th. Then in the last race I got a 3rd. I was in 7th overall.
On the second day and middle day of the regatta it was supposed to be flat water but very very light. I did the same thing the previous morning launching off of the “wall”. When I got out it was 2-3 knots and flat water. I got a tow out and tested the course with my friend, and found that the right was significantly better. But we were AP’ed or postponed for multiple hours. But we were finally put off of AP and started racing. I won the boat and saw that the clouds were breaking up on the right so there would be more wind and a right shift. I went right but not too far just in case there would be a lefty and I was correct so I came back and led the fleet to the right and I was in the lead so I was just leading the fleet for the rest of the race. The race committee was waiting for more wind but they sent us in due to lack of wind. I was in 3rd overall.
The last day of the regatta started with lots of nerves. It was supposed to be windy, ranging from 15-20 knots and very large chop. I decided to not launch from the wall this time, and this is because it was windier and it would be sketchy. But I was in the middle of the line until they only started letting gold fleet radials, and then full rigs, and then silver radials, then us. I was one of the last people to launch. When I got out it was 15-18 knots and I fine tuned with my friend. My coach, Sussanah Chapman, told me that I should not go all out because I could flip or get too tired and I could lose my drop race. The first start was very bad. I was second row and slow at the gun. But I caught a few boats and was in 10th at the top mark, where I then passed 5 boats on the downwind and then was in 5th. I finished that race in 5th, by this point I was winning the regatta, but I didn't know that. The next race it had gotten windier by 3 knots and the wind was farther right, I nailed the boat at the start and was one of the only ones to start there, and got a right shift and was leading. The boat that was in second missed the hiking strap and fell in the water. And the boat that was in 3rd deathrolled on the downwind. Then it had started to rain and I could barely see the top mark, I was gapping the fleet by that point. I won the race and the race committee concluded saying it was too windy for the ILCA 4 fleet only to send us in early making me the 2023 US National Champion.
Thank You San Diego Yacht Club Competition fund!