Newport Harbor Sailing Foundation: Sailor Stories
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Olivia Norton at the C420 Midwinters
On Wednesday, February 11 this year, I traveled to Jensen Beach Florida with a large group of other Southern California sailors. The next day, most of the sailors racing were at the US Sailing center for practice before the regatta. My skipper, Kingston Keyoung, and I spent the first part of our day getting various boats off trailers and putting together our own boat. Once rigging and a brief meeting was over we were finally able to get out on the water. In contrast to the past couple Midwinters, conditions were light, and the water was colder than expected. However, the air was warm, and the competition was incredible. The sunny practice was about three hours of boat handling and speed testing in separated groups, and practice races with all sailors in 73 sailing.
The next day was a later start, because our boat was already off the trailer and almost ready to sail, but due to jet lag waking up was still difficult. Practice was almost identical to the first day, but was slightly longer as we had more time. Despite the second day being longer than the first, the sailors were still sent in by coaches around two pm so we could rest for racing on Saturday.
The first day of racing was flight selection, and there were three flights: yellow, blue, and purple. Our boat was in the blue flight and ready for a great day of racing. The conditions were slightly heavier than the practice days, but it was still a medium breeze, and the race committee was able to get off four races. In the first race we got third, then we placed first twice, and finally we got seventh. Our boat ended the day with twelve points, and a good attitude. Although the racing was great, I was grateful the race committee ended racing when they did, because our last race of the day was our worst. However, we still came off the water proud of our performance.
Sunday (the second day of racing) brought more challenges with a fleet mix and some of the heaviest breeze of the regatta. Our first race we placed tenth and the second we got twelfth. On the second race of the day in the blue fleet, a boat on the way into the finish lost control and hit the finish boat. This damaged the boat, and racing ended for the day after the second race for each flight. At the end of the second day, we were disappointed in our scoring compared to the first day, but excited to compete in the gold fleet for the final day of racing.
The fifth and final day of sailing brought shifty conditions and better competition which made the racing more challenging and interesting than before. Kingston and I raced in the gold fleet, which got off four races and scored a fourth and third the first couple races. However, our scores dropped the last two races due to being on the wrong side of some of the shifts. While the last couple races were frustrating, we knew we placed well in the regatta overall. This brought the mood in the boat up as we sailed in for the long weekend. All in all, it was a fun regatta with 158 boats from across the country, and we were happy to place 4th.