Orange Bowl was an exciting event for Michael and I. The past Orange Bowls have been great, but this was the best one yet. Michael and I are considered a heavier team than most, and when the wind is up, we generally perform well against the lighter teams. This year started with wind 10 to 12 knots for the qualifying rounds. Thankfully, we had good starts with clean air and minimized our tacks. We were able to score well and made it into the Gold Fleet in the top 10. The middle days had 12 to 16 knots of wind and we were able to get some top 5 finishes and won a few races. The shallow water and steep chop made it difficult to keep the boat moving well, but we found our groove and kept our boat powered up in our base settings. The weather was mostly sunny with occasional showers coming over the course, causing wind shifts and pressure changes. It all made for some fantastic sailing and the score board was constantly changing. We had a few bad starts as well, rounding the top mark in 20th, but these are long races and we were able to pass a lot of boats. We kept our tactics simple throughout the regatta and stuck with my gut, protecting the left side of the course whenever possible. We knew where we should be and Michael got us there. Placing 5th (out of 77) at Orange Bowl was definitely a team effort. We worked hard with varying conditions and the hard work paid off. The last day was tactically challenging for us but we persevered to a strong finish.
We met so many new competitors and visited with friends we made during past regattas. I highly recommend sailing in Orange Bowl because of all of the great sailors and how much you learn at this exciting event.