I would like to thank you for giving me the opportunity to travel back East to Florida to sail in the 2021 Open Orange Bowl Regatta at the Coconut Grove Sailing Club in Coconut Grove, Miami. This was a very good experience for me to get more racing under my belt. This was my 7th regatta skippering, so I knew I still had lots to learn.

We arrived a day before the regatta, on Christmas, and I trained with Michael Fineman the next day. I was very lucky that we were able to have some practice together because we rarely sail together at home. I was also very fortunate to have Steve Keen and Bunny Warren coaching me throughout the regatta and the practice day. 

The opportunity to fly cross-country and experience a whole new sailing atmosphere was an amazing experience. First of all, thank you to the foundation for making a contribution to help me compete in this event. I had such a fantastic time learning new things and meeting people from all over the world. I think that sailing in a different state and different boat than I am used to broadened my sailing opportunities and introduced me to the world of sailing beyond Newport Beach.

This year, I decided to switch things up at the Orange Bowl International Youth Regatta. I decided to sail the Laser. I think the Laser is currently the most competitive youth class, and I see a lot of potential personal growth, both on and off the water, in this class. Before the Orange Bowl, I flew out to do a clinic at Key Biscayne YC. We had great wind the whole week and I learned a lot from my extraordinary coaches, Steve Mitchell and Nick Thompson.

Over the winter break, I had a great time sailing 420’s in the Orange Bowl International Regatta in Biscayne Bay, Florida. My skipper and I took 6th place overall out of 73 boats. Lots of preparation was put into the Orange Bowl between our weekly clinics and the five practice days in Florida leading up to the regatta. During these practices, I learned a lot about Florida’s wind conditions, wave patterns, and currents. The chalk talks were important and included conversations with some of the top sailors in our fleet, discussions about the wind, and words of wisdom from the coaches. The coaches did a fantastic job preparing us for the regatta with their tough love (inspiration). Doing clinics that require the same amount of focus as actual regattas and racing against some of the nation’s best sailors has improved my sailing skills so much more. 

Thank you so much for supporting my travel and sailing at Orange Bowl 2021. I had so much fun sailing in warm water and sunny hot days in Miami.

It was a great experience to learn all about the Opti, and how to trim and tune the boat. This experience was so different from any Sabot regatta. I met sailors from Brazil, Bermuda, Great Britain, Argentina, and the Bahamas.

The sailing in an open bay with waves was fun and taught me how to manage swell. The start line was huge, and it was exciting to compete against 200 other Optis. I really hope to continue to sail the Opti and return to Orange Bowl next year!

Thank you so much to the Newport Harbor Sailing Foundation for their generous support to help me participate in the C420 Orange Bowl Youth International Regatta in Miami this Winter break.

Dillon Garcia and I worked through the tough, light conditions and managed to end up with two 4s after the first day putting us in 6th. The next few days we struggled to find our way to the front of the fleet and ended up dropping back to 10th overall.

Although that was not the result I was hoping for, it was a very large improvement to last year. Every experience I am grateful for whether I perform like I wish or not. I hope to continue improving and make the most out of every experience that is given to me.