The ISAF Youth Match Racing Worlds took place in Swinoujcsie, Poland, which is a very hard place to get to. Our travel itinerary had us flying into Berlin, and takin a train all the way into the small town on the German, Polish border. The team was supposed to travel mostly together, but unfortunately a late initial flight for Nevin meant he missed the transatlantic flight the rest of us were on. This lead to loosing Nevin's bag for almost the whole week! Nevin handled the inconvenience well, and become known as the guy who wore the same set of clothes every day.
The racing venue was a narrow river that served as a shipping channel for the local port. We quickly realized that this was a highly popular shipping location, with giant ships and ferries interfering with the racecourse quite frequently. The course was narrow, shifty, and the current was very strong in the river.
The first stage of the regatta was a full round robin among all teams. This took three full days to complete as we only had 4 boats in the rotation. We raced hard, and won 9 out of 11 races to finish 2nd overall in the round robin. Our team had good boat speed, and sailed hard like a professional team.
The next phase of the regatta was the quarter finals, which was a best of 5 series. We lost our first race, but were able to come back and win the series 3-1. This moved us on to the semi finals.
In the semis, we were matched up against the world #5 Sam Gilmour from Australia. The first race was an exciting one, but did not go in our favor. We received two penalties, and before we could spin and clear one of them, we were black flagged by the umpires. Race 1 - Gilmour. The next race we drew a foul on Gilmour. At the bottom mark, Gilmour took us up in the zone, fouled us and hit the mark resulting in a black flag. Race 2 - USA. The next two races we raced hard, but were unable to walk away victorious. This ended our chances of becoming world champions.
That was a tough one to swallow, with such high expectations going into the event.
The next day we raced for third place against the team from Finland. Unfortunately, we lost this series, and ended the regatta 4th and short of the podium. Also, a tough reality to accept.
Our result does not reflect on how talented the team is, and how helpful Dave Perry is as a coach and mentor. His expertise in match racing, and his ability to keep our team in the best state of mind was unbelievable.
We would like to extend a huge thank you to the San Diego Yacht Club, SDYC Comp Fund, and all of our sponsors and supporters. Our trip to the event would not be possible without all of the support we received.