Over the course of four days, I was given the opportunity to sail in the world renowned CISA Clinic. From intense morning workouts to long hard sailing hours, this clinictaught me how to have endurance and also helped to further develop my sailing abilities. I cannot express how grateful I am to all my sponsors for contributing to this phenomenal clinic.
This was my first CISA Clinic ever, and I was very happy with how much it taught me. While I was there, the other sailors and I were given the chance to work with Olympic coaches, which made this clinic that much better. I sailed in CFJ’s with skipper Bobby Briggs, and the two of us improved tremendously through the course of the clinic. On day one, we worked on boat handling and one of the drills was rudderless sailing. This freaked me out and at first Bobby and I were spinning in circles. However, we both persevered and worked through our struggles by communicating better and by the end of the drill we were successfully completing rudderless roll tacks. My goal throughout the entire clinic was to really challenge myself in the boat and get better at heavy air sailing. Sadly for three out of the four days it was fairly light, but on the last day the wind picked up from 15 knots to puffs of 30 knots.
Unfortunately, my skipper had to go back to school so I could not complete on the last race day in CFJ’s, but I still showed up ready to watch from the coach boat and learn from observation. However, to my surprise, a girl in the I-420 fleet was injured and could not sail the last day. My coach, seeing this to be an opportunity for me to practice in I-420’s sent me out with skipper Carolyn Smith to go compete in the I-420 fleet. It was my first time ever setting foot in an I-420 and third time sailing in any type of 420. But I wanted to demonstrate that I could be put in any boat and still do well so on the way out I educated myself on the boat. Throughout the day, Carolyn and I became progressively better and better in each race and even though we didn’t win the mini regatta, it was a great learning experience.
Without the support of the BYC Maritime Sciences & Seamanship Foundation I wouldn’t have been able to participate in such an amazing clinic as CISA. I also probably never would have attempted to sail an I-420 until I was a junior or senior in high school, and the fact that I sailed it at such a young age is quite remarkable. Thank you for your contribution!
Sincerely,
Madeline Bubb