The 2016 C420 North Americans were held at Cabrillo Beach Yacht Club August 18-21, which presented a great opportunity to compete in my first ever major championship. Not only was this my first major championship, but it also was the first time I sailed the C420 in a windy venue. Over the four days of racing we consistently had at least fifteen knots of breeze on the race course.
My crew, Jack Plavan, and I were excited to test ourselves in the breeze, but also to test ourselves against some of the best C420 sailors in the nation. Going into the regatta we were not expecting it to be easy, and our expectations were correct. The strong winds and the length of the regatta challenged us physically and mentally. We had some low points in the regatta, from dumping my crew in the water, to getting hit and flipping as result. We also had some high points like getting two fourth place finishes.
We learned so much from this experience and from everything leading up to this event. Thanks to our coach Nick Kaschak we were well prepared for this event even though as a light team we were not suited for the conditions. By the end of the regatta we were in twelfth overall, and the fourth place junior team.
I enjoyed this experience very much and am very grateful to the competition fund and junior program for supporting my participation in this regatta. I hope to have many more experiences like this!