Newport Harbor Sailing Foundation: Sailor Stories
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Maddie Jo and Nevin Elliott at the C420 Midwinters East
Building on our experience from last year's C420 Midwinter regatta, we could not wait to sign up again and see how we would do at Jensen Beach in 2026. The experience did not disappoint--we are blessed to be able to travel and gain more exposure to racing new venues, thanks to the support from the Newport Harbor Sailing Foundation.
We flew into Jensen Beach Thursday with the usual nerves but this time more excitement to see how the process would unfold. We hit the US Sailing Center at 10pm after our flight landed so we could have our boat rigged and ready for practice the following day. Practice day was warm and both my skipper and I made the best of it since we spent most of the day fine tuning our boat for race day and what a first race day we had!
After Day 1 of racing, we had consistent finishes in the Top 10 of our fleet, which was beyond our expectations. Wind was light but forecasts showed it would build, which is what they expected. Day 2 started with a hurdle that we had to make adjustments for that we did not anticipate: having our skipper wake up with the flu. Yay. Lol. Luckily, Nevin felt the challenge as something he could adjust and rise to and put a smile on his face after chugging some Dayquil and chewing on several hundred cough drops.
We ended up qualifying for Gold fleet which is great and finished a respectable 46 out of 158 sailors. Our first taste at being a top finisher during Day 1 ignited a new challenge and passion for me to come back next year and see how much I can improve, whether as a crew as I had done the past two years or taking by stepping in a new role as the skipper.
There is no doubt that without the support of the Newport Harbor Sailing Foundation, none of this would be possible. We would never look to travel across the country to race at Jensen Beach but here we are, our 2nd year and already looking forward to 2027. Thank you so much for supporting us in our journey and making it possible to race in new venues with challenging conditions that only make our sailors that much stronger!