Newport Harbor Sailing Foundation: Sailor Stories

Maddie Nichols at the 2023 Orange Bowl Regatta

Results

Thank you for helping to support my trip to Miami to compete in this year's Orange Bowl Regatta in the ILCA 4! I truly appreciate it. 

Over the four regatta days, a variety of conditions prevailed, posing tricky and unpredictable conditions, allowing for vast learning opportunities. On the first day, the conditions started out with a moderate and shifty breeze. As the day continued, the wind began to shut off, leading to only one race being finished and one being abandoned. For the second day, windy and rainy conditions met Biscayne Bay, leading to a three hour postponement until the wind and rain began to lessen. After the postponement flag came down, our fleet began to head out to the venue, but due to many of the sailors in our fleet capsizing at the sudden influx of wind, they sent our fleet in for the day. For the third day of racing, better conditions arose allowing us to finish four races. The last day brought similar conditions to the third day, and we were able to get in three races before the cutoff. 

During the regatta, unfortunately I really learned the importance of keeping those letter scores out of my overall scoreline and also the importance of having conservative starts vs being over. I understand it’s all part of racing and wish I did not receive mine, but I did not let them get into my head and just did a mental reset and raced my best with the conditions present. All in all, this regatta experience gave me such an opportunity to race against strong competitors and expanded my knowledge and growth in this class which I will be able to take into future events. 

Thank you for your support!