Last December we attended the 2020 Orange Bowl and Open Orange Bowl regattas in Miami, Florida. Our family drove across the country towing a 29er and two lasers. The drive east was pretty uneventful, but we would get our share of excitement on the way back to San Diego! We arrived in Key Biscayne Thursday afternoon and unloaded our boats. The next day was spent at our hotel doing online school, our last day of school before winter break.
For the regatta, Calvin raced his laser, Alice and Sammie Gardner sailed a 29er, and Anton raced in an Opti.
Calvin: Lasers
The first day of Orange Bowl we had 7-10 knots of wind and only got 2 races off instead of three. The second day started off slow as we were put into postponement due to lack of wind. However, once the breeze filled in we got a solid 12-14 knots all day and got off three races. The third day we got racing right away with a solid 18 knots that stayed with us the whole day. We were able to sail four races that day to make up for the one we missed the first day. The last day we got around 25 knots all day and finished only two races because of the earlier time limit. All in all it was a very fun trip. I learned from this whole experience and had a lot of fun.
Alice: 29ers
My skipper Sammie and I were very excited to head to Florida for some new conditions, competition, and experiences. Miami often has heavy-air days this time of year with short, steep chop which was just what we needed practice in. Unfortunately, our practice days never got over 12-15 knots. The first day of the regatta we did quite well in the light and flat conditions we were used to. As the days went on the wind speed increased and the chop with it. We struggled more as the wind came up but we learned fast with the help of our great coaches. The last day was the most memorable. The high wind and huge chop made our downwind very exciting … but we only pitch poled once! Sammie and I came out of this trip with so much more experience, knowledge and confidence than before.
Anton: Optis
In the Orange bowl regatta, I sailed in the Opti. This kind of sailing was unlike any that I have ever done before. In practice we did not experience any of the wind that I would have hoped to train in. In the regatta, the competition was very tough, with some very fast sailors. Through the regatta the days were very inconsistent, with a very large range of conditions. We had conditions from around 8 knots all the way up to 25 knots. There were also very high and steep chop, both of which I am not able to experience in San Diego. All together there was very good competition and a very good experience where I learned and improved a lot.
The day after the regatta we loaded up and hit the road for San Diego. The only problem was a big storm was forecasted for the Gulf Coast that predicted snow, tornadoes, flooding, hail and heavy rain. We calculated that we would hit the storm head-on in Mobile, Alabama. We figured if conditions got too bad we would pull over into a rest area and ride it out. We never had to stop in spite of the heavy rain, but highway lanes were closed in places and we saw record snow on the ground in Texas. Going to Orange Bowl/Open Orange Bowl 2020 was a great adventure. We had fun, learned a lot, and raced in some serious competition. Thanks to the SDYC Comp Fund for helping out with expenses!