In late July, I took part in my first international sailing event. Taking part in the Laser Men’s Youth Worlds out of the Houston Yacht Club. Hearing from my friends and coaches how light and lumpy the venue was, I came with the anticipation of drifter conditions. Instead, each day of the regatta presented itself with a 2 to 4-foot chop and 15-20 knots. With mucky brown water and an eight-foot-deep bay. The courses were relatively short because the nearby shipping channel and edges were critical to starting at. As well as the sideways chop presents a more technical form of steering through waves.

In late July I competed in the 2022 USODA Opti National Championships at The Gorge.  We flew into Portland, OR, and after a long wait for a rental car, drove to Cascade Locks on the Columbia River to prepare for a week of windy practice and racing.  The next day I got my charter boat, rigged, and launched for practice from a rocky beach, which was different than what I was used to. I thought it was going to be very windy and choppy, but it was only very choppy and puffy. But then throughout the day the wind would turn on and be around 15 knots then die to 10 knots. But then on the long sail up the river the wind picked up to 20+ knots. What I learned today was that the up winds are very fast, and the down winds are very slow but feel fast because of the current. Also, I learned that the gorge would funnel the breeze by the wind going in the valleys and picking up speed.

This past July, 97 (ninety seven) C420 teams gathered at the Buffalo Canoe Club for the 2022 C420 North Americans. The trip was a long one, but it was well worth it for the incredible conditions we got on Lake Erie. We had great wind all but one day, where it took a long time to build to a raceable condition. Peter and Cam were impossible to beat in the light wind, they were just so much faster than the whole fleet. Dylan and Nathan Sih also had a great first two days in the other fleet, finishing with huge gaps behind them. The light wind was slightly frustrating, more from the crazy amount of bugs than anything else, but we kept going no matter what.

The Youth World Championship is an incredible and unique event that only 4 US 29er sailors get to participate in each year. Through a series of qualifier events, the top mens and womens sailors in different classes age 18 or younger get to travel to represent their country.  After years of training together, Sammie Gardner and I qualified with fellow SDYC sailors Ian and Noah Nyenhuis to attend the 2022 Youth World Championship in The Hague, the Netherlands. Here, all sailors stayed together in small 2 bedroom houses spread out across a large campground where each sailor was given a bicycle. From there we would make the daily 4+ mile commute to the venue. Although the sand dunes made the ride anything but flat, the beautiful view of the ocean surrounded by wildflowers made it more enjoyable. During the opening ceremony, 250 sailors from 50 countries took to their bikes for a 15 minute long “parade” of the city.  

Recently, Noah and I competed in the 29er Open World Championships in El Balis, Spain. It was the biggest World Championships that the class had ever had with almost 250 teams competing from 26 countries. The racing was held on three different course areas about 30 minutes up the coast from Barcelona.

In July, we got the chance to travel to The Hague in the Netherlands to represent the US for a second time at the Youth World Sailing Champoionships. We had hoped that this event would have a predominantly strong breeze that is typical in the area but, in typical regatta fashion, once we arrived on site, the conditions changed to something out of the norm. Throughout the regatta, only one day was raced in wind in the teens. This was also our first time racing in strong current, up to 2 knots at some points. This added a lot of new elements to the racing that we have never had to deal with to such a large extent.

On June 29-30, seventy C420s gathered at Wianno Yacht Club, Osterville MA, to compete in the annual New England’s Championship. The venue was very unsuspecting at first, with the club being very small and launching a bit chaotic, but it was soon evident that it was shaping up to be a great event. 

I recently returned from sailing in three SDYC Comp Fund supported regattas over a three-week period. The regattas were North Americans (Cork/Kingston, Canada), Atlantic Coast Championships (Larchmont Yacht Club, New York), and Nationals (Brant Beach Yacht Club/Long Beach Island, New Jersey). I originally signed up to sail in the ILCA 4 fleet, but due to the pretty light conditions at each venue, I decided to make the switch to the ILCA 6 fleet for all three regattas. I learned a lot at each event and it showed in my results.