Over August 16-18, Jack Plavan, Jack Egan, and Taisei Hatter had the opportunity to go to San Francisco to sail in the America's Cup Open in O'pen Bics with many qualified kids coming from all over the world.
On the first day which was practice, it was 20-25 knots and we all had a ton of fun planing around and getting accustomed to the conditions. On the second day (the first race day), it was about ten knots to start out in the morning which was good for the required capsizes and other "tricks" we had to do as part of the race.
We did four races then took a break because the AC72s were racing right behind us in the Louis Vuitton Cup Finals. It was really cool to watch the AC72s. Then we did four more races because it got too windy for AC72s. After the first race day all three of us were in the top ten of 25!
The second day was windy and choppy, peaking around 17-18 knots and it was another outstanding day for SDYC.
After finishing the last of 16 races over 2 days, we went to the awards stage in the America's Cup Village for trophies. Jack Egan ended up fourth, me in seventh, and Taisei in ninth of the 25 boat field. There was some very tough competition such as Harry Melges IV, Mikey Wollman and Peter Dill, who had all done very well in the 100 boat O'pen Bic Worlds in Lake Garda, Italy earlier this summer, but this was only our fist time racing the Bics ever!. It was surreal with all the america's cup boats and teams right behind us and being on TV! It was the most spectated junior regatta ever and we were very happy to be a part of this fun regatta and proud to represent SDYC in the Americas Cup show.
By Jack Plavan, Team SDYC