Dear BYC Maritime Sciences and Seamanship Foundation,
Thank you so much for helping fund my trip to New Bedford, MA, to sail C420s at the Buzzard’s Bay Regatta. Michael Farris and I trained at the BYC C420 Racing program all summer for this event, and we were very excited to compete at a national level!
This regatta, with 167 racing boats, was the largest attended event that I’ve yet sailed. With such a big fleet, it was unfortunately difficult for the race committee to recall most of the over-early boats that were surrounded by a large pack. However, as Mikey and I unhappily learned, it was quite easy to be caught a second over-early if we positioned ourselves near the mid-boat. Our first two races (and our highest placing ones) ended up getting penalized. A couple of other disappointing errors added up, but it was encouraging that we were always gaining boats despite rough situation The next couple of days we noticed a lot of improvement in boat handling and communication.
Overall, Buzzard’s Bay Regatta provided a valuable experience in a shifty and historically breezy venue. I got a lot more comfortable in the boat, and I have a much better feel for racing in the C420 after this event. It was highly competitive and was a lot of fun. I think that our scores could have better reflected our abilities, but it was a tremendous learning experience. To me, time on the water is never wasted!
Thank you again for making this possible,
Catherine Webb