Over this past winter break, my family and I got the opportunity to travel to Miami, Florida for my first Orange Bowl Regatta. We arrived on December 18th for a pre-racing clinic, where I was able to get a feel for the conditions and become familiar with the area. I learned what the general conditions were for each wind direction and how to handle them.

Two days after Christmas, the regatta finally started. The first day was tricky. After being postponed for many hours we only got one race off. The conditions were shifty with around 5 to 8 knots. The pin was favored but it paid off to start at the committee boat and tack immediately onto port. The current was pushing you behind the line and towards the pin so there was a lot of line sag, which was a major aspect throughout the entire regatta.

In late December 2022 I competed in the 2022 Tuuci International Orange Bowl Regatta in the ILCA 4 fleet. Here is how it went. I took a redeye from San Diego to Fort Lauderdale, and then took a 30-minute uber to Coral Gables, where my Mom and I checked into our hotel room. Since I only got 2 hours of sleep on the plane, I took a nap. But then as a fun way to get out of the hotel, and to stay awake because of the time change, my mom and I took a hour long bus ride to the Everglades where we rode on an air boat to see alligators.  However, it was very cold and windy, so we did not see any. But after I got to hold a baby alligator.

On December 24^th my dad and I took a flight from San Diego, CA to Miami, FL for the 2022 Orange Bowl International Youth Regatta which takes place over the winter break.  This was to be one of my last regattas of my junior sailing career in the challenging & large ILCA 6 (Laser Radial) class.  Our arrival to Miami was not consistent to warmth of southern Florida in the winter time.  It was cold, windy & wet.  On December 26^th, we went down to Coral Reef Yacht Club for registration, to meet up with my coach at Shake a Leg park and pick up my chartered boat.  I then headed out for a few hours of practice with my coach.  Racing began on Dec 27^th in approximately 9 knots of wind that was extremely shifty.  It was so shifty that the race committee was having trouble setting up a course of which they were only able to get one race off.  For the racing on Dec 28^th & 29^th, the conditions were not only challenging due to the large fleet, but the winds was in the mid to high teens with puffs in the 20s, with a sea state known as the “Miami chop” which made an appearance.  These were not the normal conditions I have been training for here in San Diego.  The final day of racing was unfortunately called off for lack of wind.  Overall, I had good boat speed, and I was unlucky to be called over early in a couple of races that hurt my overall score.  I would like to thank the San Diego Yacht Club Competition Fund for their support in one of my last junior regattas.  I look forward to representing San Diego Yacht Club for many years to come.

Thank you so much for supporting me in the ILCA 6 Orange Bowl Regatta in Miami, Florida. I really liked competing in these regattas. Competing against such amazing sailors really helped me improve. I enjoyed starting on extremely crowded starting lines because it helped me improve my boat handling. Speed testing with so many fantastic sailors helped make me faster. I was also happy because I was able to spend time with my friends. Although my performance at this regatta was not what I had hoped, I am happy that I was able to compete. Thank you for your support. I look forward to competing in more regattas representing SDYC.

This last week, we had the opportunity to train and race in the 49erFX in Miami, Florida. We had a total of 7 days on the water, four of which were training and three of which were the US Open Sailing Series regatta. 

During the training, we were a squad of three ODP teams, one from Miami and two from California, coached by Dane Wilson. Two of the days, we also trained with Olympians, Paris Henken and Anna Tunneclif, who were wrapping up their winter training block and being coached by Charlie McKee. 

Kevin and my trip to Orange Bowl to race 29ers was both an amazing all around experience and full of life lessons on adapting to surprises! We started out thinking we were ahead of the game because we registered to attend the pre-clinic. We planned to use this time to learn about the waters of beautiful Biscayne Bay. Unfortunately we were thrown a curve ball when Kevin caught Influenza A and was totally out for the clinic - and we barely recovered by the time the actual Orange Bowl regatta started. I decided to attend the pre-clinic - land portion and shared my notes with Kevin nightly. I tried to find a sub-partner using social media, and came close but it never quite came to fruition.

Last month, I traveled to Miami to participate in the Olympic Development Program (ODP) with my crew Holland Vierling, and we were there among 13 of the best teams in the 29er class from all over the United States.

The first day at ODP was different from our training in San Diego, we had lots of Olympic class coaches and three different meetings were scheduled each day. 

The recent ILCA 4 Worlds in Vilamoura, Portugal, from August 13-20, 2022 was an amazing experience. It was my second world championship regatta as I also participated in ILCA Worlds in Dun Laoghaire, Ireland last year. The competition was just as strong this year with many talented sailors from 51 countries, including 272 boys and 152 girls who competed. The wind was really good on some days, but not so much on others.