This year at team trials I qualified for the IODA North Americans (NAMS), and here’s how it went!
At IODA events you can never really tell how you’re going to do, as people form all around the world are competing. Some of my goals were to place in the top half, gain experience from the event and obviously make friends. NAMS this year was in Puerto Rico, so not only was I excited for the event in general I was also eager to explore the venue. This event also came with a lot of firsts for me, traveling alone on a plane and staying with a bunch of kids in a hotel room. On the first practice day I felt like I was in way over in my head being here. The conditions were worse than harsh, with huge waves and strong winds. Not only that, but my back and legs absolutely ached from hiking, even after just one practice. Over the course of the first week, although I still felt quite unprepared I also had an assurance that I would be ok.
The first race day looked nothing like we expected. It was light wind and the seaweed everywhere was the seriously annoying! The first day came with 20-30 knots, so I was not making gold fleet but definitely top half. The second day however, picked up by a substantial amount. I wasn’t surviving in this wind, let alone doing well. I ended up bottom-ish of silver, which although a disappoint to me, I knew I could not linger on it for long. The third day became a rest day for me and a couple of my friends because it was the team racing day, and there were
much better candidates for the job. On the fourth day, there were harsher conditions that made me just want to give up and die. I’m pretty sure there were two races that day, and I didn’t do well in either of them. On the final day of racing, I wasn’t happy with my results so far and on top of that there were only two races scheduled for that day. On the first race I knew I wasn’t helping my results but after a general recall and an abandonment I ended the regatta with a second place finish on the last race. Thanks to that 2nd place in silver I jumped up 13
spots and into the top half of the fleet.
Overall, I’m happy with the experience and friends I made at this event, so thank you so much for funding me and allowing me to do this.