This past September, 6 SDYC Sailors made way to Annapolis to compete in the one-of-a-kind 321 Invitational Regatta. Consisting of 2v2, 3v3, and Match Racing, this regatta is truly special and requires a different approach compared to different keelboat regattas. Molly Pleskus, Johannes McElvain, Jack Plavan, and a trio of Reiter brothers (AJ, Andy, Jack) formed the stellar SDYC team as they fought over the three day weekend to bring home another trophy and add to the incredibly successful year SDYC has had.
The 321’s format is challenging as it randomly places teams into the three disciplines throughout the entire round robin, meaning each team could swap after every race and encounter a completely different field of play. The 3v3 team racing is in J/22’s with just two people and the main/jib. 2v2 is also in J/22’s but with three and kites. While the match racing is in AYC member’s J/105’s with all 6 sailors!
While the goal for the event was to complete a full 8 team round-robin with everyone racing each other in the three disciplines, the weather had different plans. A tropical storm that had raged in the South decided it would like to attack the Mid-Atlantic seaboard and bring extreme downpour and 40+ kts of breeze, resulting in one of the days being cancelled, leaving competitor’s to show up Sunday with a must-win mentality. After the stressful Sunday, Team SDYC found ourselves tied up at the top of the fleet with the hosts, AYC, but losing the tiebreaker based on our head-to-head matchups. Though disappointed with the loss, we collectively felt that the future is bright for our team considering we did not sail our best and we still managed 2nd. We learned how to set our mindsets for each discipline so that we take one race at a time, recognizing that every team will lose a race and that’s ok, it’s how you bounce back. As Dave Perry likes to say, “You don’t have to win every race, just the right ones.”
The 6 of us would like to thank SDYC and the Competition Fund for it’s continued support of this regatta as it brings together 3 challenging disciplines into a single event truly showing the depth of talent we have at this great club. And who knows, after a 3rd place finish in 2022, 2nd in 2023, there’s only one podium spot left for us to achieve! Smooth Sailing!