This past February we sailed at the 29er Mid Winters East in Miami Florida. This regatta was important to us because it was an opportunity to race against some of our toughest competitors in the United States in conditions different than what we see in San Diego. It was a good challenge and learning opportunity.
The first day was a practice day and we saw winds in the high-teens and low 20s with chop. It was good practice with conditions we don’t see a lot in San Diego.
On the first day of the regatta we flipped on the tow out to the race course and broke our mast. We had to get back to shore quickly and rig a new boat. After we got back out we did well in the windy conditions, but got a DNF in the first race because of the broken mast.
Over the next two days we continued to do well and were in first place by one point going into the last race. But in our last race we didn’t do well, and with a DNF, we had to keep that last score. This put us into second place for the regatta overall.
MWE was a great experience. We had good coaches and learned a lot. There was an ODP dinner one night with talks from some US Sailing Olympic Development coaches that were interesting. We also learned a lot about the weather and sail setup. It was a great experience overall, and we would like to thank SDYC Comp Fund for the assistance.