Newport Harbor Sailing Foundation: Sailor Stories
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Dylan Sih at the 2023 US Youth Match Racing Championship for the Rose Cup
Thank you so much for your continued support which has allowed me to travel to Sheboygan, WI to compete in the 2023 US Youth Match Racing Championship for the Rose Cup. After two days of training and three days of racing in a large variety of conditions, our team – Sophia Pearse (jib), Tyler Wood (bow), Dillon Garcia (main), and myself – ended up placing 6th out of 10 teams.
The first day of racing gave us flat water but very light winds, to the extent that we had to abandon our first match mid start and postpone all racing. Nonetheless, we stayed focused, and after racing resumed, we started off strong with a win against Morgan Pinckney, the defending champion who would go on to become the number one seed after the first round robin. However, due to uncooperative conditions, we were only able to get one more flight off - in which we had a bye - before calling it a day.
Day two of the event promised much better wind, and being so far behind schedule, the race committee was ready to fire off as many races as possible to catch back up. After leaving the docks a little after 9:00, we started off strong again, winning our first three matches of the day, before our first loss in a match against Justin Callahan’s team. Nonetheless, our team regrouped well, and crushed the next two starts against Michael Kirkman and Chapman Petersen. However, due to small miscommunications and mistakes on the downwinds, in addition to converging fleets with so many matches on the course, we ended up losing those two matches. After going 1-1 for the last two matches of the round robin, we found ourselves in the five seed with a record of 5-4, just outside the top four, three of whom were tied with records of 6-3. Unfortunately, due to limited time and a questionable forecast for the last day of the event, the race committee team was forced to skip the quarter finals, and instead move on directly to the 1-4 semifinals and 5-8 knockout. We quickly finished our first best-of-three knockout, winning the first two matches, and after a 10 hour day of racing, headed back in.
On the final day of racing, a lightning storm was expected to pass through, so no one knew what to expect for the day. However, we were initially surprised with perfect racing conditions, and started our best-of-five on time, racing against Robby Meek’s team for 5th place. Our win in the first match was followed by a loss in the second, keeping us tied at 1-1. Unfortunately, with lightning strikes reported in our vicinity, we began sailing in to wait on shore. However, halfway in, the storm began moving away from us, and race committee quickly called us back out to resume the races. At this point, with the storm so near, the wind had significantly dropped, but the massive waves from the front that had passed that morning still resided, providing very tricky conditions. Light and lumpy conditions in addition to the wind persistently trending left made the race course closed, with nearly no passing lanes. So, after an even start resulting in us behind at the top mark by one and a half boat lengths, we couldn’t find a way around Robby’s team and ended up losing the third match, putting us down 1-2. We were again rushed back in by incoming lighting after the third match, and weren’t able to get back out to complete the final two matches as conditions worsened.
Although results-wise the team was a little disappointed, we were all extremely happy with how we sailed. With such a high level group of sailors, every match was close, and we had extremely intense yet fun racing all event long. It was an incredible opportunity to meet so many amazing sailors and get coaching from Dave Perry. Also a huge thank you to all of the umpires, volunteers, everyone else who made the event possible, and especially to my host Jason Bemis.
This event has been one of the best so far - it’s been an amazing experience and I’m so happy I recently gained exposure to match racing. I truly appreciate your generous support and look forward to continuing to race!