At the beginning of August, Anton and I traveled to Sayville, New York, to compete in the C420 South Shore Championship, the final regatta in the Triple Crown series. On our first day of practice, there was a nice sea breeze of about 12-16 knots, which made for a fun day of sailing. On the first day of racing, we were met with a sea breeze of about 12 knots, which slowly built all day. By the last race, the breeze had picked up to around 18-20 knots. We were really happy to take first place in the windiest race of the regatta since we are a relatively small team.
Over this summer, I had the opportunity to participate in my first international event, the ILCA 4 Youth World Championship held in Volos, Greece.
We left on July 15 with practice starting the next day. My coaches Susannah and Rosie Chapman coached me as well as 15 other US competitors and in total there were 26 US competitors competing in the most well attended 4.7 worlds so far with 430 competitors total.
The 2023 ILCA US National Championships was a great experience. The regatta was held at the Crescent Sail Yacht Club/Grosse Pointe Yacht Club, located on Lake St. Clair, Michigan.
I flew in on Tuesday, 3 days before the regatta started. On Thursday I picked up my charter boat from the US One Design tent, and set up my personal gear like my traveler, daggerboard bungy, outhaul, and Vang. Then my team and I went out to sail on the lake. It was a very up and down wind reaching from 14 to 5 knots, and short chop. We did a few up downs and then connected with the team from GCYSA to do a few practice races. After that we headed in and got ready for the next day.
Last month, my skipper, Anton Schmid, and I went to Roger Williams University in Bristol, RI to take part in the 2023 29er Nationals and the US Sailing Youth Championships.
The 29er Nationals was a three day regatta that we were using as a warm-up event for the Youth Championships the following week as the Youth Champs was the Youth World Qualifier. Each day of the regatta, we were met with different conditions due to a large storm system moving through the area. The racing was very tight at the top of the fleet. Everyone was all over the place in the results. In the end, it was between two boats and it came down to the last race. We ended up beating the second place boat and secured our win at the 2023 29er Nationals.
The 2023 Youth Champs was an incredible experience. An amazing fleet of ILCA 6's with the best of the best youth sailors competing. The regatta was held in the Rhode Island at the Roger Williams College. The venue was a mostly enclosed body of water that had a mouth to the ocean.
The first and second days of the event were incredibly tiring. Gusting 25+ with an average wind velocity of 18. Boat speed was the name of the game; favoring heavier air I finished all top 12s in the big breeze. The courses were fairly short and boat speed was all that mattered. The wind would build and port tack was favored so the left tended to come in. During the downwinds, it was critical to keep the boat constantly planing and steering at steep angles to avoid running into waves. Keeping it simple and sailing fast was the recipe for success.
Kevin Cason and myself sailed at the 2023 29er nationals in June in Bristol, Rhode Island. Among the best teams in the country (and some from out of the country too!) we raced hard and made many new friends along three way! We finished the regatta in 6th overall and 1st in juniors/ under 16. We practiced for one day before the race and the wind conditions were relatively the same to the regatta conditions. We raced in a fleet of 20 boats and the line was packed! There were first and second row starts and as a result, making any mistakes would contribute to a low race score. Due to this we had some low scores on a fee races but we were pleased with most of the scores. All in all- a great experience at 29er nationals 2023 and I hope to attend and win 29er nationals in 2024.