Newport Harbor Sailing Foundation: Sailor Stories
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Hannah Crompton at the 2024 C420 Midwinters
In February Newport Harbor Sailing Foundation supported my first trip to the C420 Midwinters. This was the biggest regatta I had ever taken part in. I was crewing for Noah Stapleton and we competed against 147 other boats. The US Sailing Center Martin County did such a great job hosting this event, everyone there was so kind and helpful.
While the first day of qualifying was fairly light and incredibly shifty, the second day was forecast to be a massive rain and wind storm. We were postponed on land for three hours as we waited for the storm to calm down a little, and then went out to race. The rain was still pouring quite steadily, but there was good wind so the race committee started races. In the last section of the race, the wind began to pick up a lot, and many boats began to lose control and flip over. Unfortunately we flipped as well, and this resulted in us not being able to finish the race. This completed the qualifying rounds, and going into the last day of racing we were in second place by one point overall after throwing out our DNF from the final race. All of the top 10 teams were very close, there were many ties and one point differences.
The last day of racing was extremely windy, and we went out into a 25 knot breeze that was only steadily increasing. We were super fast in the breeze and during the first race we worked our way up from upper teens to first place, and finished the race in first. Unfortunately, after the race we learned that we had been marked over early, which forced us to take a 50 point penalty. Since we already had 50 points from flipping the day before, this meant that the chance of us now placing in this regatta was very unlikely. Naturally, we were still motivated to finish strong and keep trying hard to do well. At this point, the wind had picked up so much that they sent in the silver and bronze fleet, and had two more races scheduled for gold. Boats were on the rocks, on the beach, and stranded with broken rigs. The second race was the windiest race of the day, and on the last downwind we pitch poled and took on lots of water. To get rid of the water fast, we quickly flipped and unflipped our boat, ending in a 10th place finish that race. We were doing quite well in the last race, until a massive breaking wave caused us to flip on the last upwind, and because it was so sudden our mast got stuck in the mud. This resulted in a slow unflipping process, where we had to right the boat multiple times, and caused us to be unable to finish that race.
Although our results were scattered with a 35th overall, we showed our true race pace and will look to take less risks next time. The conditions were perfect for gaining practice in breeze, and overall the regatta was super fun to take part in and a great experience. I am so grateful that the Foundation supported me in this regatta, and I am excited to compete in many more regattas in the future.
