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.
Thank you so much for supporting me to compete in the ILCA 6 US National Championships in Brant Beach, New Jersey and ILCA 6 Youth World Championship in Houston, Texas. I really liked competing in these regattas. Competing against such amazing sailors really helped me improve. I enjoyed starting on extremely crowded starting lines because it helped me improve my boat handling. Speed testing with so many fantastic sailors helped make me faster. I was also happy because I was able to spend time with my friends. Although my performance at both of these regattas was not what I had hoped, I am happy that I was able to compete. Thank you for your support. I look forward to competing in more regattas representing SDYC.
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.