We had arrived in Jensen Beach late after our truck up from Orlando. My crew, Marbella, and I were incredibly tired. As soon as we saw our beds, we were asleep. The next day we slept in and ate a late breakfast. We were getting to the boat park really late, and Marbella and I had only sailed together twice. Add to that, we had decided to challenge ourselves and race this regatta without a coach. We needed all the practice we could get, but sleeping in felt really nice after a long night of traveling.
When we arrived at the boat park, we rigged our charter boat as quickly as we could so we could get out on the water. We practiced a little with our fellow Newport friends. We eventually moved on to tune with Javier Garcon and a couple other East Coast friends. Marbella and I were both pretty rusty because we had been sailing a ton of CFJs and we had not sailed much together. After sailing, we concluded that we were alright and our goal would be to finish top 10.
The first day of the event was not windy; it was about 8 to 12 knots. Our goal for the day was to not tank any races. Usually, that is my normal goal for the first day of the regatta; not always achieved. I like not having a throwout so I can put pressure on whomever is in front of us. The left side was favored due to a significant convergence zone bending the wind left. The pin was also favored. We decided to be conservative and start middle pin and send it left. That was our game plan for most of the regatta. We would always round the mark top 5, but we would make some silly mistakes due to our rustiness and lose a couple boats. We ended the day with a 6, 6, 6, 3. This put us in 8th so we were alright with it. None of our scores were stellar, but at the same time none were bad.
The next day was windy, which I was worried about because Marbella and I had not spent any time in the wind together. It was 12 to 15 knots. We continued our gameplan. However, we were slower and had a tougher fleet split, which resulted in a 4, 7, 3, 14. This kept us in 8th, but we were still only 5 points out of the top 5 and we now wanted a top 5 finish.
The final day, we got to the venue and there was no wind. We were so bummed because we thought we might not even get a race off. Eventually, the wind filled, and it was seven knots and very shifty. In other words, it was my favorite condition after all the high school sailing we had been doing. The first race we had a decent start and played the course really well and ended up getting a second. My buddy Enzo Menditto just barely beat us. However, that one race alone was enough to move us up to third because everyone else had an awful race. We were stoked, but we still wanted to try to move up to second. We had to put four boats between us and Emily Bornarth, who is currently doing a 470 Olympic campaign. Our start was awful, but I knew we were fast and was optimistic we could salvage the race. We kept nailing shifts and passing two boats at a time, and by the time we got to the weather mark, my eyes were so sore from staring at the compass I could barely see. We finished first. Marbella and I were so stoked to finish second overall, and have an incredible day of racing.
We are so thankful for the support we have received from the BYCMSSF. Without it events like this would not be possible for me. Taking the chance of competing without a coach was definitely thoroughly vetted prior to the regatta. Not having a coach really tests your abilities and self-reliance. You have to think on your feet and apply what you’ve learned, rather than depend on outside assistance. I will definitely race this way more often, as it’s the work you put in, beforehand, that really counts.