Newport Harbor Sailing Foundation: Sailor Stories
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Dylan Sih at the C420 US National Championship
I really appreciate your consideration in helping me compete in the 2021 C420 Nationals at Brant Beach, New Jersey. Conditions weren’t as we’d hoped for, and we were only able to get a few races off throughout the three days, but it was still a great experience. After 1 practice day and 3 race days, my brother and I ended up placing 20th out of 132 boats.
On the first day, we quickly rigged up and headed out to practice with the rest of our team. We ran several drills, then started up some practice races. Many other groups joined our practice races, which was good as we could now train against a larger group to get better at starts and tactics. As the day went on, the wind died down, and we all headed in to get some rest for the big regatta ahead.
At the beginning of the first day of racing, there wasn’t much wind, so we had an on land postponement for a little over an hour. The sun was out, and with no wind to cool us down, everyone was trying not to overheat by jumping in or finding shade. The wind did eventually fill, and conditions were great: consistent 6-10 knots with oscillations. On the first race, my brother and I started towards the pin with many of the other top sailors. We all had punched starts and held off the line towards the left side of the course, where it looked like there was more pressure. Unfortunately, the left caved in, and we rounded the top mark in the deep 50’s. However, we didn’t give up, and we clawed our way back up into 20th. After that, we had good starts, played the right side of the course more, and finished with an 8 and a 12. After 3 races, the race committee called it a day, and we headed back in.
On the second day, the wind was dead in the morning again, and we postponed for an hour, just like the previous day. We were all itching to get out though, as thunderstorms were predicted to roll through early in the afternoon. We finally got out and started up a race, but in the middle of our race, we started to hear thunder. Race committee waited a little longer to see if they could finish our race, but ended up abandoning it, and everyone tried to get in as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, it was quite chaotic, and several boats flipped on the way in as the thunderheads sent huge gusts rolling through the course. In the end, everyone got in safely, but 9 boats that flipped were abandoned on the water. All the competitors waited on shore inside the club house since we weren’t sure whether we would go out again later as it was only 1:30. After about an hour of lightning, rain, and even hail, the race committee made the call to send everyone home.
Going into the last day of the event, we had still only done 3 races. We went out early without postponement, and started racing right away. We were doing well in the first race, rounding the top mark in the top 10. Unfortunately, the wind shut down and clocked way right, and the race committee was forced to abandon. After waiting for nearly 2 hours for the wind to fill in, many general recalls, tons of crazy wind shifts, and very biased courses, we were running out of time. We weren’t allowed to start any races after 3:00, and it was around 2:45 when they finally got us off and racing. We had a great start in the middle of the line, but the wind kept winding right, and we never got any big lefties to cross over to the right side with. We still sailed fast, played the shifts, and finished our last race in 14th.
In the end, my brother and I didn’t finish as well as we’d hoped to, but it was still a huge learning experience, and I know I grew a lot as a sailor and as a person, learning how to sail faster and better, but also figuring out how to manage my emotions and stay calm during the race. Thank you again so much for supporting me at this regatta! I couldn’t have done it without your help.