Thank you for giving me the opportunity to sail the 2021 Club 420 US National Championship in Brant Beach, New jersey. This was my first time there and I loved the venue.
I was very excited to sail this regatta because of what I have heard about it by past competitors. They were gracious enough to have warned me about the seaweed and shallow water. This definitely helped because I did not want to snap a centerboard or capsize.
Our practice day did not go very well. There was no wind so we only practiced for about an hour or so. But, with the wind we had for a short period of time, my skipper and I were confident in our boat speed and boat handling skills. We were lucky enough to be able to set the kite a couple times and go upwind with our team.
The first day of the regatta was really light, so we weren’t able to get off a lot of races. We were postponed for a while because the wind wouldn’t fill in out of the right direction. This was annoying because we all knew the wind would not pick up until it clocked to the right direction. Finally, when it was in the correct direction, we got to start sailing, and the wind gradually picked up from there.
The second day was painful. We were postponed ashore all morning, and when the breeze started to pick up, we were finally sent out. We were on our way to finishing our first race of the day when a huge storm came through the course. There was thunder and lightning, so the race committee abandoned the race and sent all the competitors in. This was discouraging as my skipper and I were doing very well in that race. There were no more races that day.
On the last day of the regatta, the race committee changed the starting time to 30 minutes earlier in an effort to get more races in. At this time, we had only completed 3 races, and needed 5 to get to the selection of Gold and Silver fleets. Race Committee was able to run one more race, and the competitors never had the opportunity to sail against the best sailors in each flight.
Thank you again for giving me the opportunity to sail at this prestigious event.