Newport Harbor Sailing Foundation: Sailor Stories

Dylan Sih at the C420 North Americans

Results

Thank you so much for your support in allowing me to compete at the 2022 C420 North Americans in Canada. This was a super fun experience for me, not only due to it being in Canada, but especially because it was the last event sailing with my brother, Nathan, and after 4 days of racing, we finished 2nd out of 97 teams.

The first day of the regatta gave us light conditions, and we spent the first hour of the day on land under postponement. Nonetheless, I was fired up from Nationals, and once the racing began, Nathan and I started off strong with a 1, 2 in the first 2 races. However, after the second race, there was a big wind shift that skewed the course, and the race committee decided it would take too long to move all the marks, so they sent us in early after only 2 races.

The beginning of the second day also had us postponed on land, as the breeze had not yet filled in.The wind hadn’t fully stabilized when we started our first race, giving us much trickier conditions than the day before, with big opportunities to pass or lose many boats. Nathan and I still managed to stay focused and consistent in the 2 races sailed, scoring a 1, 5.

We were postponed on land yet again on the third day of the regatta, as lighting storms were forecasted to pass through. Although we didn’t like the wait, this meant there would be a strong clearing breeze once the storm passed, giving us ripper conditions with puffs over 20 knots. My brother and I started off the day safe with a 3, but disaster struck during the second race. We had a poor start, followed by a slam tack that had my brother swimming in the water. After starting in dead last, we worked super hard and clawed our way back into the top 15 by the windward mark. After blasting past 10 more boats on the reach and rolling 1 more at the beginning of the downwind we found ourselves back in 4th place! However, I rushed to beat another boat to a gybe, and ended up flipping with the kite up. We quickly sorted out the kite and were back on our way, again catching back up to 7th by the windward mark, but I sent the bow into a massive wave on the set, swamping our boat and causing us to drop to 10th. After we finished the race, our coach Lior said, “Why are you doing everything possible to lose the race?” Nonetheless, my brother and I reset mentally, and finished with a 6 on the last race of the day

On the last day of the regatta, we were able to start on time with nice wind, although not quite as much as the day before. Unlike Nationals, the Diemar brothers who were leading the event were pretty much out of reach, so we decided to just sail our own race and see how it played out. We had conservative first two races, scoring 5, 7, but had a rough last start and race. We still had a drop to give though, so it didn’t affect us, and we ended up finishing in 2nd overall.

Thanks again so much for your generosity! My sailing and mental skills have improved so much at every event this summer, and I couldn’t have done it without your help. I’m looking forward to continuing to race in both future C420 events and the upcoming high school season!

2022 C420 North Americans