This year the C420 Nationals were held in Brant Beach, NJ. Typically the venue has a superb sea breeze. As a bigger team, we were looking forward to this event.
However, the forecast did not look great. Kennedy and my first practice day was spent drifting in two knots. It was also very hot and shifty. The first day of the regatta was light. However, we managed to fit in three races. We were happy with how our first day went. We were in the hunt.
The second day of the regatta was a lot different. We were forecasted to have thunderstorms. Sure enough in our first race we started to hear some thunder. The race committee had to send us in and abandon the race. Unfortunately, we didn’t get any races in.
The last day had no wind. We spent the entire day in postponement looking for enough breeze to sail. After hours of waiting, we finally had enough wind to get in a start. Off the start we were not looking good. There was a huge righty and we were pretty far left. We tacked and ducked the fleet and then the wind decided to go left, and we were even deeper. Fortunately, we were rather quick on the reach leg. We had a miracle of a reach leg and broke into the top 15. We passed some boats on the downwind and rounded the top 10. With the help of a couple shifts and a long downwind we managed to finish fourth. We finished third overall. I think, given the challenging conditions, that third is a solid finish.
I am happy to have had the opportunity to compete in Brant Beach. Thank you to my coach Augie Dale and team, Dale Racing, for an incredible summer. The Balboa Yacht Club Maritime Sciences and Seamanship Foundation supported me and many of the sailors from our bay as they competed on the east coast this summer. The events are highly competitive and are forming the sport’s future sailors. Without the Foundation’s support, many of us would not be able to pursue competitive sailing.