Newport Harbor Sailing Foundation: Sailor Stories
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Dylan Sih at the 2023 C420 National Championship
Thank you so much for your continued support of my sailing campaigns in allowing me to compete at the 2023 C420 National Championship in Chicago, IL. After three long days of racing, my crew Dillon and I ended up placing 16th out of 113 teams.
The first day gave us a light but building sea breeze, with fairly stable conditions and very long courses. We started off safe and consistent, getting off the line well mid-pin and extending left, giving us a 4, 4 to start the regatta off. However, we knew that if we wanted to contest a win, we needed to shift closer to the favored end of the line. Unfortunately, despite having a killer start, confusion in regards to multiple sound signals had us going slow the first few seconds off the line, which cost us greatly.
Going into the second day, the pressure was on, as we no longer had a drop race. Nonetheless, we were able to keep our heads in the game, and start off strong with a 3. The following race proved tricky, as our side caved on the first beat, but we were still able to claw our way back, salvaging a 10. Knowing that the forecast for the last day wasn’t looking great, we needed to put one last solid race in, and we delivered on the start – after launching off the pin, we tacked and began comfortably crossing the fleet. Unfortunately, we were flagged 30 seconds after the start for rocking as our leech was “moving too much” with the waves. After a quick 720, we were still able to catch back up to 16th, but with our drop race already used, we had to keep the deep race.
The final day arrived as expected, with very little breeze. After waiting two hours on land and three-and-a-half more on the water, the race committee finally got our final race going 15 minutes before the cutoff. Unfortunately, despite a clean start at the boat and extending right, the left side of the course came in huge, and with super light conditions in the gold fleet, it was very difficult to make up boats.
Although we entered the event with higher hopes, we now know what to work on and are excited to continue improving. We look forward to competing at all of the upcoming regattas this summer, with our next being North Americans in Rhode Island, and thank you again for your generous help! I truly appreciate your support and these incredible experiences wouldn’t be possible without your help!