This summer, the 29er Open Worlds was held in Valencia Spain by The Real Club Nautico. The worlds look place from August 23-29th, with six days of intense racing. There were a total of three days of qualifying, then another three days in the final series. There were over 200 boats registered, split into 6 groups for both the qualifying and the finals. On the water there were three courses that each had two groups, and switched daily. We did three races for the first five days of the regatta, doing 2 on the last.
The conditions were like no other I have sailed in. The wind held steady throughout the regatta at a nice 8-12 knots, with huge waves. All the way through the regatta the waves stayed massive, it was described by some people as 15 knot-waves with 8 knots of breeze. There was not much current through the regatta, but storms did affect the condition of the day. Most of the days we would have a front, or a storm system, that would either come through and cause the conditions to be lighter, or if it came through overnight it would cause the waves to get bigger. The wind had a pattern of starting out very light, and building throughout the day. Almost every day ended with very nice conditions. One unusual part of the venue that I was surprised by and have never experienced were the jellyfish, off the line I remember hitting multiple in a line.
The U.S. was represented by 6 boats, 4 getting into the gold fleet. After the qualifying series we were in 16 in the gold fleet, moving up to third after the first day of the finals. We finished the regatta in 8th, which exceeded our goals. The High Performance Youth Sailing training at the Gorge this summer helped significantly with the big waves and boat handling in the extreme conditions at the Worlds. I would like to thank the Comp Fund for allowing us to go to the Worlds, it was a truly life changing event, and everyone learned a lot and had a lot of fun.