Two weeks ago my friend and skipper, Carolyn Smith, and I sailed our last regatta together before we part ways for college. This regatta, the US Junior Women’s Doublehanded Championship , happened to be our best regatta we have ever sailed. This was our fourth and final time participating in it, so we wanted to make it count. Last year we placed second and missed first just by one point so our goal this year was to get the gold.
After the first two race days, we were in fourth, so going into the last day we felt no pressure unlike how first place was feeling. That day, we sailed our hardest and tried our best to stay focused in the light conditions. Although it was hard not to lose focus, we succeeded and had a great last day of races not finishing any worse than a fourth. In the end, our consistency that day truly paid off. Much to our disbelief, right after we finished the last race, our coach told us that we had just won the whole regatta. We were speechless. We couldn’t believe it. Immediately we both started crying tears of shear joy. We have worked so hard all year to do win this regatta and knowing that our hard work was worth it made us feel so accomplished. When we reached the dock we were quickly tackled into the water to celebrate. Soon after Carolyn and I were bombarded with cameras and tape recorders from the press. We still had not grasped the fact that we had become US Sailing national champions.
Ida Lewis has always been one of our favorite regattas and knowing that we wouldn’t be able to participate in it next year due to the age limit made us determined to do well. The regatta was such a great experience with so many great people and i am so thankful to have experienced it. We like to say we ended our many years of sailing together with bang.
None of this would have been remotely possible with out the help and support of the BYC Maritime Sciences and Seamanship Foundation. Carolyn and I cannot thank you enough. Your help truly means a lot to us. Also, I just wanted to take the time to send out a HUGE thank you to everyone who has helped and supported Carolyn and I in our sailing endeavors. With out all of your support we would not be as far as we are now.
Submitted by Bayley Davidson