Newport Harbor Sailing Foundation: Sailor Stories

Julia Getter at the 2024 Orange Bowl International Youth Regatta

Results

Thank you to the Newport Harbor Sailing Foundation for helping support my sailing at the 2024 Orange Bowl International Youth Regatta. Every year, this regatta is on December 27-30 in Miami, Florida. It is hosted by Coral Reef Yacht Club, and we sail out of the US Sailing Center in Miami. This was my fourth Orange Bowl Regatta, but it was my third one in C420s. My skipper, Thomas O’Grady, and I had never sailed together before, so we flew over on December 20 for five days (excluding Christmas) of practice before the regatta. The practice days were pretty warm with a lot of chop and light to moderate wind. During the actual regatta, however, we saw a much greater range of wind. On the first day of racing, the weather was similar to the practice days with wind around seven to nine knots. On the second day of racing, the wind picked up a little bit to around twelve to fourteen knots with a lot of puffs and lulls. On the third day of racing, it was pretty breezy but still puffy. The wind stayed around sixteen to nineteen knots. Finally, on the last day, we did not race because there was no wind. In the end, my skipper and I finished in fourth out of ninety-one boats. We were satisfied with this result as it was our first regatta sailing together. This regatta was such an amazing learning experience for me and my skipper. Our communication and chemistry in the boat improved greatly over the course of the regatta. We hope to use these skills in future regattas. Thank you so much for your support!