Newport Harbor Sailing Foundation: Sailor Stories
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Olivia Norton at the C420 North American Championships
As a competitive double-handed racer, I went to the East Coast for C420 North Americans. More specifically, the regatta was in Bellport, New York. The regatta was run incredibly by Seville Yacht Club, and the wind was light in contrast to North Americans last year. Coming from Southern California light wind is a speciality, so my skipper Kingston Keyoung and I were able to do well in comparison to East Coast boats with less light-air practice. However, all competitors were exceptional sailors, and the winning boat had both a skipper and crew from the east coast. With such impressive sailors from around the country North Americans became a fun and competitive regatta for everyone. In total, it was a 116 boat fleet. After the first two days of flight selection we raced in gold fleet for two more days, resulting in a four day regatta. Though the long regatta was tiring at times, it allowed Kingston and I to learn a lot. These things included how to navigate a course with unpredictable wind shifts, and adapt to Seville’s new electric mark bots, which were used to set the course. Overall, it was a fun and rigorous regatta, which allowed all competitors to gain more experience and knowledge.