2010 Intraclub Race Team Championship

Last Saturday, November 13, 2010 was the SYC Intraclub Race Team Championship. This was a fantastic regatta which we sailed in V15s and completed almost a full rotation of all the sailors who attended. There were light and shifty winds for the majority of the day, which ended up working out in my favor because I won overall with a fourth as my worst score. This means I win the girls trophy for this regatta which I will be presented at the Race Team awards ceremony in January. This was a fantastic regatta with great competition and close scores. I will post pictures of the awards in January.

McCurdy Cup

In the McCurdy Cup regatta on October 30-31, 2010 at Seattle Yacht Club, I sailed on SYC Team 1. It was a fantastic regatta with smooth rotations and great halloween costumes on sunday. Our team was undefeated (other than by the 1 collge masters team) allowing us to win the cup and bring it back to Seattle Yacht Club. I had tons of fun racing with Burgess, Andrew, Alexis, Michaela, and Hanne in this regatta. A great success for team racing with a turnout of 10 teams.

Pumpkin Bowl

In the Pumpkin Bowl regatta at West Vancouver Yacht Club on October 16-17, 2010, I finished 19th out of 40 boats. I raced in a Laser Radial and there was a large fleet. It was freezing cold and we had many postponements. Unfortunately I also lost a protest at this regatta. Overall, it was not my favorite regatta, but was a good experience.

WIND Clinic/CGOD

The Wind clinic and CGOD regatta were lots of fun this year at the Columbia Gorge in Oregon. They took place from August 2-8, 2010 and were fantastic with tons of wind, typical for the location. The clinic was very useful, because we learned many new techniques to further improve our heavy wind skills. On the day in-between the clinic and regatta, some of the more experienced sailors sailed all the way to Hood River, which is about a 4 hour long downwind sail. The winds varied with gusts of up to 34 knots. It was an intense sail, but I was determined to finish it and did, earning a new name from my coach "the warrior". In the regatta, the skills I learned from this long sail helped immensely and I finished 7th of 24 boats. This was a great accomplishment for me, since I am still on the small side to be racing in a Laser Radial. Overall, it was a fantastic regatta.

Leiter Cup

Last Summer I raced in Leiter Cup (US Singlehanded Women's Junior National Championships). It took place at Coral Reef Yacht Club in Miami, FL from July 17-24, 2010. It included a clinic followed by a great regatta. The conditions were quite windy, and one day of racing was canceled because of a tropical storm, steady winds of 45 knts and gusts to 60knts. I placed 30th of 40 which was good considering it was my first time attending the regatta and my light weight for the wind conditions. It was really exciting because we had fantastic college coaches, a personal trainer, and even got to meet Laser Radial Olympic Gold Medalist Anna Tunnicliffe. It was an amazing opportunity and I am excited to attend next year in Richmond, CA.

Octoberfest/NYRC

Octoberfest took place October 25-26, 2010 at Sail Sand Point. I raced in my Laser Radial and got 3rd overall of 10 boats after a tight race. It was a blast and included people racing from both Canada and the northwest. At this regatta I also learned that I received 3rd place overall in laser radials for the Northwest Youth Racing Circut.

Johnny Adams Memorial Regatta

The Johnny Adams Memorial Regatta (JAM) took place on Bainbridge island this year on September 11-12, 2010. I raced in a Laser Radial and got 2nd of 16 boats. This was a fun regatta with great competition! It was also a part of the northwest youth racing circut.

Lido 14 Junior National Championships 2010

The Lido 14 Junior National Championships were a blast this year. They took place on August 22, 2010 at Alamitos Bay Yacht Club in Long Beach, CA. I sailed with Mackenzie Wilson in this regatta as well. After a day of racing practice, we did not do as well as we had hoped, finishing 8th overall of 15 boats. I recieved the Barbara Caroll Perpetual Trophy for being the top female skipper, which was a great accomplishment. Overall, the trip was a great success even though our finish was not as great as we had hoped for with shifty winds that were unpredictable in the area.

Lido 14 Women's National Championship

The women's national championship took place on August 21, 2010 at Alamitos Bay Yacht Club in Long Beach, CA this year. It was a fantastic regatta with great racing. My crew for the regatta was Mackenzie Wilson from Anacortes, who is a great sailor. We had a great time and were able to use Mark and Sarah Ryan's Lido for the regatta. We sailed very well together in this fantastic boat and ended up in 4th place with four 4ths in the regatta and one 1st which we were very proud of considering the great competition. We were the first junior team and overall had nothing but positive feelings about this regatta.

Lido 14 Senior National Championship 2010

I just got back from many sailing trips and finally have time to write about the Lido 14 National Championship 2010 which took place at Huntington Lake, CA from July 13-15 and the High Sierra Regatta on July 10 and 11.

Both of these races were very fun. I crewed in our lido 14 (4284) with my dad in the High Sierra regatta, but skippered for the nationals. The wind was great at huntington lake as usual and we placed 11th in the B fleet with consistent races (12, 12, and 11).

The Nationals was even more fun then the High Sierra because I skippered. We did not do very well during the qualifiers and ended up in the bottom of silver fleet. The first day of racing we did very well with an 8th, 6th, and 6th which put us in 3rd place because many people received an OCS in a race. The second day we received a 16th because I tacked too close to someone and had to do circles. The last race we sailed well in and then were fouled at the leeward mark and then were disqualified because I had fouled someone and did not do my circles since I still believed, and still do believe I had done nothing wrong. Therefore, we ended up in 13th place overall. I still think the racing was worth the 40 hours of roundtrip driving!

I went to see the America's Cup Trophy won by BMW Oracle at Seattle Yacht Club last Sunday night. It was absolutely amazing to see. Hearing from the crew about their journey was fantastic. It was an amazing opportunity to meet some major sailors. Here is a youtube video that they made of the cup at SYC:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FB-Wc_-3mfU

Laser Midwinters West

Last weekend I went down to Richmond Yacht Club to sail on the San Francisco bay in the Laser Midwinters west. It was a tough regatta for me because it was really windy, the sailors were amazing, and I capsized every day. By the end of the 3 day regatta I was so sore. Every day we had a postponement waiting for the wind, but when the wind came, it was super strong. The swells were huge because the bay is so shallow. The first day I battled the up-winds and needed a looser rig going downwind. My starts were also not very good. In the second race, I capsized downwind and my centerboard had problems staying in so that I could swim around and right the boat. I eventually righted the boat and finished the race, but got passed by all the other boats after my capsize. The second day, I finished in 44th in the first race by hiking hard and having good reaches, but not a very good start. I finished 47th in the second race of the second day. In the 3rd race I was doing pretty well until i flipped downwind and ended up in 43rd. The last day we waited for wind and it came in really strong in the middle of the 1st race that day. I was doing well probably in the 30's when the wind stormed in and when I hit the downwind leg my sheet slipped out of my hand. I capsized after hitting a 4-5 ft. swell. Ben (my coach) came over to see if I wanted help, but I wanted to keep racing so I grabbed my rudder which fell out because of a broken pintle. I also shoved my centerboard into the trunk and did everything I could so that it would stay out even a little bit to pull it out and right it since the centerboard kept falling out. I finally righted the boat and realized the rudder was not in right so i had almost fixed it when I flipped again. At that point, I had no energy left and realized i wouldn't be able to finish the race within the time limit. Therefore, my coach assisted me in getting my boat back upright and we took the rig down. Then I couldn't sail the last race either. Overall, I was proud of my sailing and knew that I tried my absolute hardest.

Interlake High School places 4th in state!

Last weekend Mark Feeney (senior), Adam Schnitzer (junior) , and I (sophomore) sailed at Sail Sand Point against 150 other students. We placed 4th of high schools in the state behind Bainbridge Island, North Kitsap, and Orcas Island. We beat 10 high school teams and 1 college team. Only high schools located on an island or peninsula beat us. I will be sailing this weekend near Western Washington University, then will be going to San Francisco to sail in the Laser Midwinters West Championships, but after that we will be back together for another regatta.

Also, sorry to not have updated my blog in such a long time.

Recently, I have sailed in the High School Kick-off regatta at SYC. There were 25 boats and 130 sailors. It was our first team Interlake regatta and we got 17th.

I sailed in the frigid digit as well where there were 3 radials and I placed 2nd, losing first by getting 2nd in the last race to Alexis Aird.