As my college sailing career takes off into its last season of eligibility, I have found a new passion that may allow me to sail past my college days. During the beginning of my winter break, I was invited by Marley Mais to sail in the Women’s Match Racing Championship Qualifier! I was joined by Gwenie Dunvely, and Alli Gutenkust. 

As the trip neared, we were checking the forecast in St. Petersburg, Florida, mentally preparing for whatever wind is shown. Much to my surprise, the forecast showed a small cyclone-like pattern on the radar scheduled to hit Florida the weekend of the regatta. Oh Great! However, the weather was not something that we were going to let scare us away. 

Thank you for your support to the Orange Bowl regatta in Coral Reef in Miami. This was my second orange bowl in an ILCA 4. 

Coming into the regatta, the weather was slightly cooler than the week prior but it was a perfect 70-75 degrees. The wind everyday was expected to be good and peak at the start of the regatta and lighten up through the week. The 2 practice days I had were great, the wind was 15-20 knots the first day I practiced. This was a really productive practice day and I was able to work a lot on my unwind boat handling.

Over the four regatta days, a variety of conditions prevailed, posing tricky and unpredictable conditions, allowing for vast learning opportunities. On the first day, the conditions started out with a moderate and shifty breeze. As the day continued, the wind began to shut off, leading to only one race being finished and one being abandoned. For the second day, windy and rainy conditions met Biscayne Bay, leading to a three hour postponement until the wind and rain began to lessen. After the postponement flag came down, our fleet began to head out to the venue, but due to many of the sailors in our fleet capsizing at the sudden influx of wind, they sent our fleet in for the day. For the third day of racing, better conditions arose allowing us to finish four races. The last day brought similar conditions to the third day, and we were able to get in three races before the cutoff. 

In October, a group from NHYC traveled to Seawanhaka Corinthian Yacht Club to sail in the annual Lee Trophy. This year felt particularly special because it was the first year of the regatta after Mr. Lee passed. As always, SCYC put on a great event and several members of the Lee family were there to greet us and share stories of previous years. The sailing conditions varied greatly, with rain and a squall the first day and sunny and windy the final two days. Team NHYC started off strong and remained competitive throughout the regatta, though ended up with a 2nd place finish to Annapolis Yacht Club. Though SCYC is a bit of a hike to travel to, we had a great time catching up with old friends and meeting new friends on Oyster Bay harbor. 

Thank you for supporting my trip to Tuuci Orange Bowl International Youth Regatta. It was an incredible experience and I am very grateful I was able to take part in my first Orange Bowl.

The regatta had a wide variety of conditions. The first day, there was not enough wind to complete any races. The second day, a rain storm came through, so we were postponed on land for four hours waiting for it to pass. After the storm passed, they sent us out and we completed two races in marginal trapezing conditions. Due to the lack of wind on the first day, qualifying was extended to the third day so that we had enough races input before splitting into either gold or silver. On the third day, the breeze was light but steady and we were able to complete four races overall. This finished qualifying, and going into the last day, my skipper Noah Stapleton and I were in second place and would be racing in the gold fleet. The last day started off with a steady light breeze, however after two races the breeze became too unstable to set a course so racing was ended and we finished in second place overall. Coral Reef Yacht Club did such an amazing job hosting this event, and I am excited to return next year.

This December, team Green Flags Only assembled for the first time in St. Petersburg to compete in one of the qualifier events for Women’s Match Racing Nationals, which will be held in Chicago August 2024. The event was held in St. Petersburg Yacht Club’s J70s, with the option of 4-5 sailors, the only rule being that the skipper must be female.

Our team consisted of 4 women: Marley Mais skippering, Gwynie Dunlevy (NYYC) on main, Alli Gutenkust (CBYRA) on pit and spinnaker, and Maddie Bashaw (NHYC) on bow and jib. Each member brought different levels of match racing and keelboat sailing skill to the team, and after a blustery practice day on Friday we overcame the learning curve and were competitive with larger and more experienced teams.