Orange Bowl was an especially challenging event this year. The C420 fleet was stacked with great sailors, and the conditions made it tricky to navigate the race course. The first few days I was out in Florida looked pretty average, if any day in Florida could be considered average, that is. There were random spells of rain and odd wind that accompanied it. By the time the regatta rolled around, the wind had started to cooperate. However, the sea state did not. It was incredibly choppy, which made it especially hard to keep the boat powered up. We did the best we could, and crushed it in the qualifying rounds! We won a race and got second in another. Once we split into Gold and Silver, the racing got increasingly difficult. The wind was blowing over Key Biscayne, which casued some funky geographic shifts, and the course ended up being right where the powerboats made a ton of wake. We persevered, and kept our heads up. We went to sleep that night confident we could make up a few boats the next and final day of racing. The final day, we ended up not getting any races off. It was a total drifter, and we bobbed around, went swimming, talked with the coaches, and stayed near our teammates. It was frustrating for sure, but knowing that we still placed incredibly well, especially for my skipper and I's first event together, totally made up for it. Once the AP flag over A went up, all of the SoCal teams were beyond excited, knowing Peter Busch and Cam Spriggs had secured the win. We were very happy to bring home a 22nd, and hope to continue improving at the next few C420 events this year!