Thank you so much for supporting my first ever Optimist regatta, the Orange Bowl, which took place in Miami, Florida. I wanted to gain some experience in the Optimist because I had only sailed it once before, so completing a week-long clinic hosted by Coral Reef Yacht Club familiarized myself with the nature and skills required to succeed in the large and competitive Optimist fleet.

A year ago I met my i14 skipper Garett Brown. We were sailing 505’s when he asked me if I wanted to sail on his i14. I took it out for a rip with him and instantly fell in love. After a couple sessions he asked me if I wanted to sail i14 Nationals and I delightedly accepted his offer. 

After a month or two of training it was time to show up and do some racing. We arrived in Bellingham, Washington two days early to practice. It was especially nice because we had a couple world champions to line up against for some speed tuning. I learned a lot about how to specifically tune and rig an i14. The most interesting aspect is the angle of the rudder foil. The skipper plays it upwind and downwind but I can feel the whole boat rise and fall in the water with just the slightest adjustment. It is truly a wild experience.  

I want to start out by saying how thankful I am for the Newport Harbor Sailing Foundation. I felt a great deal of support and encouragement with everyone I spoke with. With the tremendous support of the NHSF, I was able to tackle one of my biggest dreams. Competing as one out of the 82 teams racing in the Star World Championships in Kiel, Germany.

The trip started out with a flight to Zurich, Switzerland where I was acquainted with my old time friend and crew, Uli Seeberger. From there we drove through Munich, Germany to the Herrsching Yacht Club to acquire the boat we would be using later that week in Kiel. After a few sail exchanges and dealing with a broken surge break, we geared up and drove all night. Twelve hours to Kiel and occasionally grinning, we were on our way to the Star Worlds.

Thank you for supporting my attendance at the 2021 CJ Buckley C420 Team Racing National Championships. This two day event was held in E. Greenwich, RI. This is by far my favorite event of the summer. Light winds and stiff competition prevailed in this two day team racing event. Over twenty teams competed for this National Championship. Our team, West Coast Best Coast, consisted of myself and Sophia Mulvania, Peter Busch and Cam Spriggs and Ryan Satterberg and Jon Seward. The team represented the coast of California from San Diego to Santa Barbara.

Thank you so much for the opportunity to be able to race in the club 420 North Americans. I was so excited to sail this regatta because I remember sailing in it 2 years earlier with my best friend. This regatta was very long, but luckily my skipper and I were well prepared to sail long days in various conditions.

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to sail the 2021 Club 420 US National Championship in Brant Beach, New jersey. This was my first time there and I loved the venue. I was very excited to sail this regatta because of what I have heard about it by past competitors. They were gracious enough to have warned me about the seaweed and shallow water. This definitely helped because I did not want to snap a centerboard or capsize.