By Rebecca McElvain
Results
Day 1
After a 4-hour plane ride and an hour bus ride my crew, Nicki Simon, and I [Rebecca McElvain] finally arrived in a parking lot paved by small rocks. We gathered our bags and boarded a pontoon boat along with a few other girls. Soon after we arrived on a small island called Lighthouse Island. We ate dinner and got our boat assignment. Then we met our host family. They picked us up on a boat along with their son. When we got to the house (which is right on the lake) we went to our room and feel asleep fast.
Day2
The first practice day was really fun. We had a meeting with all the coaches. Everyday we would get a new coach and a new training group. The first day we were fortunate enough to have Ward Cromwell, the head coach of Charleston, the college I want to go to. We became really good friends with him. We did a lot of boat handling because the lake was extremely choppy due to crowded boating. It was very light but that was expected. That night we had dinner at the club. We got to meet some other girls from the east coast. It was a good way to start the event.
Day 3
The second practice day was really windy. That day was dedicated to practice races. However, we forgot to change to heavy air settings and we were stuck with an overpowered and in consequence we lost a lot of speed, especially being such a small team. We finally pinned down but it was to late in the day and sailing was over. We headed in with a big lesson learned.
Day 4
The first day of racing we arrived at the island bright and early for a skippers meeting followed by a first warning signal at 10:30. There was no wind and the races dragged on forever. With the frustrating conditions and a race committee willing to race in anything we quickly became frustrated and made bad decisions. We got back and talked to Ward about what we could have done better. He said that it was a tough day and a tough wind direction. But the final analysis was that we picked the wrong side in most races.
Day 5
The second day of racing was even worse. There was no more then 3 knots at any point of that day but the race committee thought it was sailable and decided to send us out anyways. You had to be the luckiest people if you were in the front of the fleet. I try not to make excuses but in my opinion luck played a big role in winning races that day. After racing that we were exhausted and worn out from our streak of bad luck.
Day 6
The final day of racing wasn’t looking to good in the morning but by the first warning the wind had picked up a fair amount. We were in our element and I was ready to get out of the bottom 20. Us and 2 other boats went right straight off the start. And soon enough we were ahead of the entire fleet. That race we ended 7th, which was our best finish because, no surprise, the wind shut off right after. That night we had the award ceremony and it was really fun. The best part was that each day we improved in our place. We picked up at least 4 spots a day and even though we could have done a lot better we still had a great experience as our first non-high school, out of state regatta.
Day 7
We got up early and boarded a 10:00 shuttle to the airport. We met some girls from Maine that were the only other team going to our terminal. We had lunch with them and promised to hang out at another regatta soon. The whole experience is something I will never forget and I’m glad to have the opportunity to do it.