2020 has been a year of many changes and with this opportunities have also risen. Throughout the whole pandemic all the training has been leading up to one thing, the 2020 International Orange Bowl Regatta at Coconut Sailing Club where I would be crewing in an I420.
We arrived at the site a week early to practice in similar conditions as the regatta. The weather during the practice days was hot and marginal conditions. This allowed for long days spent working on boat handling, speed, and starting practice. On Christmas the weather completely changed as the temperature dropped about 20 degrees and the wind came in about 15 knots. The upcoming forecast for the next few days was seen as much more wind than previously predicted.
The first day of the regatta was the lightest and only allowed for 2 races to get off. The light wind allowed for my skipper, Sophia Devling and I to stick with the front of the fleet. As the next few days continued the wind picked up making it difficult to hold our position. We had trouble figuring out the correct settings to be in which was figured out throughout the regatta. Although at the time our scores were not the greatest ( finishing 14th out of 30), we will greatly benefit from this as we are now much more prepared for our next regatta, I420 North Americans.
Thank you so much for helping me attend this regatta. Many lessons were learned with things that I am able to take away and apply to my future sailing.