Dear BYC Maritime Sciences and Seamanship Foundation,
This past month Golden State Match Racing, composed of BYC Members Ryan Davidson (Helm), Brandon Folkman (Main), and Gregg Kent (Bow), was selected to represent BYC in the NESPRESSO Youth International Championship held at the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron in Auckland, New Zealand. This regatta is very well known in the youth match racing circuit and we were very excited to have the opportunity to participate and represent in such a prestigious event.
We arrived early Monday morning to be greeted by fellow Governor’s Cup Alumni, Chris Steele, whom we soon found out was our host for the week. He gave us a tour of Auckland and his neighborhood before we had to buckle down and train. Tuesday and Wednesday we met up with Laurie Jury who coached us along with four other teams in a mini clinic. This was particularly helpful due to the fact that we had not only never sailed the Elliott 7m’s, but also the fact that we were to use asymmetrical gennakers instead of the standard symmetrical kites. These brought the tactics to a completely different level. Racing with gennakers meant that there would be more passing lanes down wind, making the racing an even higher level. Laurie taught us tricks to hoisting, trimming, gybing, and dropping the gennaker as well as new downwind tactics to help us in racing. Without Laurie’s help, we would have struggled the first few days of racing.
The first day of racing brought strong winds, fast currents, breakdowns, and a wild day! Unfortunately, we suffered a major crew injury in our third race. Gregg suffered a knock to the head from the boom which consequently removed him from racing for the day. Luckily, a youth program member from RNZYS, Alex Burrow, was able to step on board and fill in for Gregg. We cannot thank Alex enough for allowing us to continue our regatta. Gregg was taken ashore to be evaluated by medical staff and was permitted to return to racing the next day. It sure was a fun and wild day.
The next day brought most of the same conditions. We raced right under the Auckland Bridge, off the break wall in front of RNZYS. We were able to finish the first round robin and continue through the majority of the second round robin. We were left in a comfortable position knowing we still had work to do the next day to make the semi-finals. Day 3 left us with Newport-like conditions in the morning (light and shifty). Unfortunately, due to small boat handling errors and the competition level, we missed the semis by 2.5 points. We won our knock-out race for 5th and were sent into the dock eager to watch the great racing of the semis and finals the following day.
After dealing with injuries, new crew, gennakers, and high level of competition, we were happy with our end result of 5th place. There were various frustrating moments; however we look back at them as fantastic learning experiences. We were pleased to have the opportunity to travel down under and look forward to returning there to compete in the near future.
We would like to thank the Balboa Yacht Club members, BYC Maritime Science and Seamanship Foundation, and our many supporters who provided us with the backing needed to compete in such a big event. We look forward to your continued support in our upcoming campaign this year. Without the support and guidance you give us, we would not be able to sail the regattas we want and continue to improve our skills and results.
Thank you,
Golden State Match Racing
Ryan Davidson (BYC), Brandon Folkman (BYC), Gregg Kent (BYC), and Connor Mashlan (RNZYS)