By Scott Sinks
Watch Video - Results -
On August 14th, my crew and I, Chris Ford of Richmond yacht club teamed up, and flew to Portland Oregon to compete on the Columbia river gorge which was the venue of the 2012 U.S. youth championship. When we arrived to the venue, the wind was already up, and was what looked like a typical "Gorge day" with winds blowing from the west ranging from 20-22 knots, flat water, and lots of current. We were looking forward to the first day of racing.
Day One started off around 20 knots out of the east, with winds tapering off throughout the day. Three races were completed. The first race was very tricky; the current was fighting against you upwind, which resulted in a very close fleet. After a close race, we finished with an 8th. The second race was started with a great start, after sailing for a few seconds upwind my crew Chris thought we were over. After learning this lesson once before at Bemis, which cost the regatta we decided to go back and clear ourselves. We tried to fight back, but after the fleet had rounded the windward mark they were gone with the current. We finished the race in 32nd. The final race of the day we had a clean start, sailed to the favored side and finished the race in 2nd. Putting us in 12th after Day One.
Day 2 was similar conditions, winds 20-22 out of the east, and long up winds. After a long day of racing we finished the day scoring a 3,7,6,2. Moving us up 9 places, into 3rd , 9 points out of the lead. It was a solid day.
Day 3 was unfortunate. With the easterly winds fighting against the westerly all day the breeze was around 5 knots, race able in some venues, but not with the current being around 3 knots. We could do nothing but sit on shore. Zero races were completed on Day 3.
Day 4 had lighter breeze ranging from 4-9 knots and big pressure differences. The key to this day was to be in the pressure, and know when to hitch back to more current on the right, when the wind was dying. We had a good race, for how tricky the conditions were. We ended the race in 9th. Tied for second but losing the tiebreaker, first was out of reach. Hoping the race committee would have one more race, to secure 2nd, we were out of luck. We ended the regatta in 3rd, tied for 2nd.
This youth champs was an amazing experience I will never forget. I had so much fun, and learned a lot. Thank you SDYC for making it possible to compete. Thanks again!