By Molly Pleskus
Thank you so much SDYC for the help I received in competing in the U.S Junior Women’s Singlehanded Championship, racing for the Nancy Leiter cup. This all girls Laser Radial regatta was close to, if not the best sailing experience I have encountered thus far in my sailing career. This week brought amazing coaches, close to perfect conditions, and friendships to last a lifetime.
The afternoon of Friday July 6th brought record temperatures and 50 junior girls to Chicago yacht club, for a week not soon to be forgotten. We piled in vans, gun cases in tow, transporting us from the airport to the Chicago Yacht Club Belmont Station where we registers and unloaded all of the charter boats and began to set up our boats. Day one ended with everyone being assigned to our host families. My family was perfect, an active older couple with a love for sailing, and an amazing apartment on the 35 floor of a high rise in downtown Chicago! I was ecstatic about my home for the week with my roommate and travel buddy D’amy Steward, another SoCal Radial sailor.
Clinic day one met us with hot weather, breeze blowing 12-15 knots from a northeastern direction, bringing big waves and tons of chop, not exactly what I was expecting from a freshwater lake. Similar conditions were waiting for us on day two, which were expected to change drastically for the first day of racing on day three. The clinic days were the first time I had ever been in a laser in breeze and waves so there was major learning done there. I spent more than my fair share of time in the water, and got quite good at getting my boat up. With the help of extremely well qualified coaches I learned how the smallest adjustments of my controls could cause a huge difference in my boat speed, a great thing to learn.
Beginning the regatta I was extremely excited to go start racing and was optimistic about how I could do. I struggled but still felt fast, just knew I needed to sail smarter. The second day brought the most breeze we saw during the regatta, I was extremely nervous that morning and doubting my ability to sail as well as the other girls, I had only been sailing lasers for a couple months, and it showed, I struggled starting and often was stuck fighting to get out of the back of the fleet. The final day of racing at the US Junior Women’s Singlehanded Championship was sailed in a mild easterly breeze of 6 to 8 knots with much less chop. The day began with numerous postponements and general recalls as big wind shifts affected the course to the point of needing to move it. The many postponements threw me off of my “race mode” and made it seem more like practice, not a good thing for an easily distracted girl. It wasn’t until the last race of the regatta that my coach figures out what had been making not do very well all week. Confidence. I didn’t think that I was good enough to be up with the good girls so I had horrible starts and just didn’t use my head. The advise I left Leiter with was that noting good was going to come out of me doubting myself, you never know if you are as good enough to be up in the front until you allow yourself to at least try. The last race I had a great start, confidence renewed, but sadly a wind shift on the other side left me without a favorable finish. I ended up placing 32nd out of 48 boats racing, next year I hope to improve those results and make it to the top fourth of the fleet at least.
Leiter brought great experiences, and amazing coaches and friends and I want to thank the SDYC Competition fund for helping to make this experience possible! Thanks a ton and I hope to be able to take part in this event again next year!
Molly Pleskus