In the beginning of October, my brother, Noah, and I went to North Carolina to compete in the 2021 US Sailing Youth Champs. They were held in Camp Seagull, North Carolina. This event was one of our training events for the 2021 ISAF Youth Worlds that are happening later in December.
On the first day, we were met with a solid breeze in the mid to high teens because of a low pressure system sitting just off the coast. We won the first two races by a large margin, which was a nice way to start the regatta. The third race of the first day, we let a boat get to the strong side of us and they got past us. There was not enough time to catch them. That last race of the first day, we won. That night a big storm came through causing lots of wind, rain, and lighting. We stayed in the open air cabins and the windows did not really close. My window's shutters were slamming open and closed all night long.
The second day, we were postponed due to strong winds and big waves. During our postponement, the SDYC sailors got to explore the YMCA camp. We got to do archery and many other activities. Eventually, we were released to go to the course. On the way out, we realized that the conditions were going to be crazy. The waves were big and the breeze was up. On our tuning run, we set the spinnaker, as we went down each wave the boat was going completely underwater. By the time racing began, the conditions settled down a bit. We won all three of the races that day. After sailing, a bunch of the 29er teams went to the zipline at the camp. It was a fun bonding experience in which everyone got to know each other better.
The third and final day began with an unstable wind. We just had to have two good races to win the regatta without having to race the last race. The racing was hard and challenging, the course needed us to be very heads out of the boat. With a 2 and a 1, we won the 2021 Youth Championships. We raced the last race for fun. We ended up third, keeping all of our scores in the top 3.
It was a fun regatta and we learned a lot. A big thanks to SDYC and HPYS for all the support.
