Newport Harbor Sailing Foundation: Sailor Stories
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Andrew Beeckman at the 2024 Sunfish Worlds
The 2024 Sunfish World Championships was held at Rush Creek Yacht Club in Dallas, TX - of all places. Interestingly enough, another NHYC member and I sailed a "Black Tie" regatta at this venue many years ago. I've also sailed many regattas and practice sessions on the lake while growing up in Texas. The old saying "should've been here yesterday" and "it's never like this" rang true this year in epic form. Blowing most of the regatta from the east, the winds were anywhere from 3-18 knots for racing and at both extremes throughout the week. Twenty degree shifts were the norm and 40 degree shifts were expected for each race. One tricky part was that the starting line had the RC in the middle - sighting both ends separately - and, it was extremely long. The consequence of this was that you either had to start at the right or left end and very quickly were on lay line. You were effectively stuck on the side that you started on regardless of shift - there were some big comebacks to simply get into the 20 place as a finish. There was no crossing the middle - ever. The hospitality was excellent, our group of US sailors lived up to the comradery and the Sunfish class delivered another large fleet event that tested every aspect of our sailing skills & abilities. I would like to thank my club, NHYC for its support and for my inner circle of friends and family for being consistent advocates.