Newport Harbor Sailing Foundation: Sailor Stories
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Morgan Pinckney at the 2021 C420 and Laser Midwinters Regattas
Laser Midwinters East 2021
Before Laser Midwinter’s East, I had not trained in a Laser in a while, as I’d been focusing on other boats. I had only one practice day in Newport before the event, so my Laser sailing was really rusty. Because I had been sailing other boats a lot, I hoped that would make up for it, but the Laser is a different beast.
When I arrived in Florida, I had one day of practice and rigging before the event. The first day of the event had little wind and I was able to do well. I finished the day with a seventh. The second day was about the same and I continued to do well.
The big issue was that the final days of the event were windy. I was in ok shape and getting good starts, however I was losing a lot of boats on the downwinds and reaches. I was rounding the mark with Olympians and national champions and I could not match their pace on the downhill. So I dropped a few places by the end of the regatta, finishing 21st, just shy of my goal of top 20.
If I had had time to sail Lasers more consistently before the event, I think I could have done better. I rounded mark one top ten every race, but because my downwinds were so slow I would finish about 16th. I would lose a boat here or there, and that would just put me in a bad situation where I would lose more boats.
The event was a learning experience. I was also able to make a lot of new friends and new connections. I am so thankful to have had the support from the Newport Harbor Sailing Foundation to sail an event of this caliber. I am looking forward to doing more in the future.
C420 Midwinters East 2021
Midwinter's East this year was a challenging event for me and my new crew. We had very little time in the boat together prior to racing. There were also a lot of very good sailors there and almost 100 boats from around the country.
We arrived at the event three days early. We spent the first day making the boat perfect and used the other two days to practice and get more familiar with the venue. The first two days of practice went great. We were going well and getting good tips from our coach Udi Gal.
The first day of the event was poor. There were storm fronts and thunderstorms. The race committee was only able to get one race off before there was lighting, and we had to go in. The one race we had very tricky conditions and huge wind shifts. We struggled and finished the day poorly. Nothing much changed over the next couple days of the event. The race committee struggled to get races off in the conditions, which were shifty with huge potholes.
The last day was a little bit better, however it was still really tricky. We started well and had good boatspeed, but we could not figure out the course. We ended up finishing 11 overall. I am so thankful to the Newport Harbor Sailing Foundation, which made it possible for me to have this opportunity, and I am looking forward to applying what I learned and racing the next event.
2021 C420 Midwinters East
Morgan Pinckney | Kennedy Leehealey