We arrived at Miami airport late on Christmas Day in the rain excited for our first Orange Bowl. When we woke up on the 26th and we were so tired. We went to the host club, Coral Reef Yacht Club and checked in, found our spots in the Opti boat yard and began unloading our trailer. Mr. Mayol had towed our boats, his sons’ boats and three other Southern California Opti sailors’ boats all the way from Newport Beach. As we started unloading our seven Opti’s from Southern California it started pouring rain. It was coming down so hard that we had to make a shelter out of boat covers. Everyone had to run for cover. Each time it lightened up a little, we got another chance to unload and finally got the trailer unloaded and the boats rigged. Once the boats were rigged, it seemed to come down even harder and the wind seemed to shift directions constantly. One big gust blew Jack’s boat over. It hit my boat and spun it right off the dolly. My mom and Jack ran out into the pouring rain to get the boats back on the dollies and turn them into the wind as best they could with all the crazy wind shifts.
It was supposed to rain all day so we launched and headed out to practice with our group from So Cal and Coach Mayol and Coach Tallman. During practice it rained so hard it felt prickly. After a few hours of practice we were so drenched that we went in but we had had a chance to get out on Biscayne Bay and see where we would be racing.
Day one started off with meeting my coach who was really nice. His name is Maykol and he is from Cuba and coaches for Coconut Grove Sailing Center just down the street from CRYC. We launched and we went out early to practice and during that practice time I pitch poled and capsized going downwind. Racing went well for me. I ended the day in 7th place in the Green fleet out of 60 boats.
The second day we had rain again and lots of wind. It blew 18 with gusts of 23. I learned to sail in the chop of Biscayne Bay and to surf the boat a bit, a new skills that I’ve been working on since I’ve been sailing this boat. I got a bullet and ended the day in 4th place.
The 3rd day the rain finally stopped but so did the wind. It was really light. We got the last of our 14 total races in. There was supposed to be alightening storm so we were watching all day for it but it never happened. This day of racing I learned that in light air it is really important to balance the boat by sitting inside of the boat instead of on the rail. At the end of the day I had dropped down one place to 5th place.
The 4th and final day of racing we rigged just to find out we weren’t going to be able to sail due to no wind. We derigged, loaded the trailer and went to the ice cream social and I got the best ice cream ever. At 2:00 p.m. the Awards Ceremony started. The top ten sailors from each fleet got trophies. I got 5th Place in the Green Fleet. I am very happy with where I ended up and my family is SUPER proud of me.
Thank you MSSF for supporting my Orange Bowl experience. It was a good opportunity for me to learn about sailing in different conditions, improve my Opti sailing and get an understanding of sailing in a big fleet for next year when I sail in the Champ fleet.
Peter Joslin