Newport Harbor Sailing Foundation: Sailor Stories

Otis Buckingham at the GWA Wingfoil World Cup

Results

The trip from Maui to Morocco was no easy task, traversing through 4 different international airports was a great experience, to say the least. Getting familiar with these large airports will help me be more confident when traveling in the future. On this trip, we had a solid crew from Maui. Traveling with 4 of your best buddies made the long trip way more fun and went by much quicker. The 56-hour trip consisted of a lot of laughing and plenty of entertainment. 

We arrived at Dakhla around midnight and took a cab straight to our hostel. We arrived two days before the event window opened, allowing me to acclimate to the time change and feel confident once the event started. The conditions during those first two days were quite challenging. I never thought I was going to be foiling in the North Atlantic Ocean. Since there had been no recent swells, there was a lot of sand on the bank making it difficult to execute maneuvers while staying on foil. Since the crew and I felt that hitting our foils on the sand constantly wasn't a good idea, we decided to downwind about 2 miles to another beach break. It was a good idea from the crew and we ended up having more productive training sessions. After two solid days of acclimating to the Morocco time zone and conditions, I was ready for the event to start. 

The first two days of the waiting period we die from lack of wind and waves. On the third day, the competition was called on. The skippers meeting was at 10:30 and the first possible heat start was at 11:30. I prepped my gear and brought it down to the launch spot. Luckily I was in heat 4 of the first round which allowed me to watch the first few heats and figure out what size wing I wanted to ride in my heat. The direction of the wind was very offshore, creating a massive wind shadow where the waves had the most scoring potential. I decided to play it safe and take out my biggest wing, a 5 meter. I went out early to check my lineups and make sure my gear was feeling dialed. 

Before I knew it, the heat started and it was go time. Two other riders in my heat were very skilled so I knew I had to put on a good show. I started with a small warm-up wave to get the blood flowing and gain confidence. I rode a total of 4 waves throughout the heat and ended up winning, putting me straight into round 3. This was a major sigh of relief because I got the first heat jitters out of the way and was ready to go even bigger in the next round. 

My round 3 heat was against my good buddy from Maui and I knew it was going to be a tough one. The conditions were pumping that day and the wind was more consistent. I decided to go out on a 4.5 meter wing which allowed me to perform more tricks on the waves. I started the heat with a very high score and the battle began. Back to back, every wave was an excellent score. Before I knew it the heat was over and I was feeling confident that I advanced. Scores came through and I had made it into the semi-finals. I had so much adrenaline that I had to sit down and chill out a bit. Eating some food and hydrating were the two key things that would keep me going strong. 

The wind started to back off right before the semis so I decided to take my biggest wing. The horn went off and the heat started. I got one really good wave to get things rolling and my opponent was right behind me. I went straight out the back to find a better wave. I glance in for a second and see that he came off foil which means that he’s floating in the water and can't do anything. Once I saw that I knew I had to take advantage of it, so I got two more waves to solidify my position in the heat in case I fell too and couldn't get up. He ended up floating the rest of the heart and I advanced to the final. This was a big moment for me because this was my first world tour final and all the training has paid off for this very moment. 

In the final, I was competing against my best friend, Cash. Cash and I have been competing against each other for over 10 years, we did our first local surf contest together at 5 years old. To be competing against him today at the world tour level is a crazy thing to think about. We wished each other good luck and now it was time to go all out. The final was 20 minutes long and we were battling from start to finish. Excellent score after excellent score, it was action packed and we didn't know who took the win till we got to the beach. They brought down the American flag and handed it to Cash, he won the contest for the second year in a row. I was stoked for him and happy with my performance. 

We took in the culture the last few days of the trip and I enjoyed being with all of my friends. This was one of my best trips and results to date and I hope I can keep this momentum going at the start of the 2025 GWA World Tour season.