Team Trials is one of those regattas that everyone takes really seriously. So there’s a lot of trying to psych people out and competition talk going on. The start of the race goes straight to a U flag. Then, if there’s one general recall they go straight to a black flag. It gets super nerve racking. 
The first day I had a forty five, (there were around sixty people in each fleet) and a fourteen. Consistency is something I need to work on. The current was super strong the first day, and blue fleet had it the worst, it took them over 45 minutes to get a clean start! I think there were 26 kids in that fleet that got BDF in their first race, and another 20 in blue fleet in the second race. Both my fleet (yellow) and pink didn’t have it nearly as bad, but what that meant is a lot of kids that would have normally qualified for Gold were in Silver with me. So both fleets were super stacked.
In one of the last races, I was in fifth to last. Which was not good at all, but then I passed twenty or thirty boats on the last lag. I ended up getting twenty fourth, which was an amazing come back. When I got to the coach boat the radio had just said lightning was spotted on the water so we had to get on a tow in really fast, so my coach didn’t know what happened in that race. Then halfway through the tow she stopped, looked at the scores, looked at me, and said “Cassady, I can’t wait to hear this story.” I was very proud. Unfortunately, when I was rounding the gate a kid said I had no room, he did not protest me on the water though. When the scores came out I had a DSQ for the race. My coach had asked me if there had been any incidents on the water and I said no. I missed the protest meeting and was unable to get it reopen, so it’s important to communicate any and all things that happen on the water, lesson learned TELL YOUR COACH EVERYTHING THAT HAPPENS ON THE WATER !!!!
The next day the race committee wanted for us to get out there early, and it was so windy and choppy that literally everything got wet. Nothing was dry. So I put some spray gear on to warm up before the race, and then halfway through it got so hot, I was dying. The wind had died, yet again. Throughout the entire regatta the wind wasn’t very good. Then I had to wait for the gold fleet to start, and everyone bet on what was going to happen. General recall, OCS boats, postponement, or a clear start. I guessed OCS, and I won! And then the wind died even more, (which I didn’t think was possible) so we had to go in. We were the first ones in, which when you see the chaos on the ramps makes you very happy you were in front of it all ! Thank you for your continued support of my Opti sailing.