Newport Harbor Sailing Foundation: Sailor Stories

Brady Kennedy at the 2023 Orange Bowl Regatta

Results

Thank you so much Newport Harbor Sailing Foundation for your continued support of my sailing. It was a great opportunity to be able to sail at the C420 Tucci Orange Bowl regatta at Coral Reef Yacht Club. I had a great time exploring the wonderful city of Cocunut Grove and will never forget the memories I made over this regatta. I finished 11th overall in a competitive 86 boat fleet. In the C420 fleet we are split into to different fleets and sail on an inner or outer trapezoid course. After the qualifying rounds you sail in either Gold or Silver fleet. On our first day of racing we didn’t get any races off due to the marginal temperature difference between the water and air which didn’t allow for a stable sea breeze. On our second day of racing we had been postponed on land for a few hours due to a storm front coming in with heavy rain and strong winds, eventually we went out later in the day and got two races of in lighter conditions where we finished 13th and 6th in the blue fleet. On the third day we changed to the yellow fleet and got 4 races off in very puffy and shifty conditions that made for difficult racing. We had a tough first race finishing 22nd and then went 2nd, 2nd, and 7th which was an amazing day for us. This concluded our qualifying days and left us with 1 more day in the championship round. We finished up the regatta with another light and shifty day with a 27th and a 3rd in the Gold fleet leaving us 1 point out of the top 10. It was a great regatta for us and allowed myself and my crew Kathi Keller to learn so much from these difficult and very competitive races.  Thank you again for the opportunity to compete in the Tucci Orange Bowl regatta, we are very appreciative of the Newport Harbor Sailing Foundation and all you do for us as junior sailors.