I flew out Christmas day to Miami, FL to attend Orange Bowl. I had so much fun. On the first day, practice day, I met my coach, Mauricio Galarce. He taught me a lot of new things in a short period of time. For example, we reviewed how to set up my sprit pole and how to adjust my outhaul to the correct place for the correct wind speed. In addition, I met a lot of new people that first day. I also saw a lot of my other friends that I met before I started sailing optimists.
The next day, the first day of racing, I was a little nervous. When I arrived at Coral Reef Yacht Club (CRYC), I was surprised how many boats were there. I was shocked how CRYC could fit so many optimists in one small area. There were at least 300 boats competing in all of the optimist classes. I had about 70 boats on the line for each of my 12 races. On the first day it was a very light on the water, about 3-5 knots, and I did surprisingly well. I met a lot of new people, some from Great Britain (GBR) and a lot from Bermuda (BER), I even met one person from Puerto Rico (PUR). I felt like I learned a lot more about tactics and speed racing in Florida that will help me in sailing my sabot. I saw a lot of people that I knew in the c420 class and in the laser class. Over the next 2 days, I thought I had the racing down to a science. I was so wrong.
On the last day, I tanked the last race. The wind built from 7-8 knots to 11-12 knots. It was very shifty, and it was hard to see all the shifts. In addition, the inconsistent choppiness of the water didn’t help at all. I hope to go back to Florida to sail soon in some upcoming races and regattas.
I am so very thankful that I was able to attend this regatta. BYC Maritime Sciences & Seamanship Foundation gave me a grant to make it possible. I know that if I do this same regatta next year, that I will do better than I did this year, because I only started optimist sailing in August. I ended the event 6th overall in the optimist