by Paul Didham
The 2015 Orange Bowl International Youth Regatta was held at the US Sailing Center in Miami. Over the four day regatta Miami delivered; each day brought constant 14 to 18 knots of breeze. I was competing in the Laser Standard class.
The first day of the event we had two races. The wind was steady, but every now and then, clouds would form up above; this would affect the breeze. This was the case in the first race where a large cloud on the left side of the course caused the wind to bend to the left. I was able to capitalize on this shift and rounded the top mark in first. Unfortunately, I capsized on the downwind and lost the lead. For the rest of the race I was trailing. The second race conditions were similar except there were less clouds, this meant it was unlikely for there to be any major shifts until the top of the course (because of the land). It was going to be a drag race out to the port lay line. I felt comfortable with my upwind speed so I decided to start to leeward of the fleet. After the start everything went to according to plan. I was able to tack on port lay and cross the fleet. I would round in first, but lost the lead on the downwind. I would finish the race in second; however, I was over early so was scored as OCS.
Downwind boat speed was a major area of improvement. Miami has a very unique pattern of chop. Because Biscayne Bay is so shallow the waves are steep and compressed. In order to surf downwind you need to have aggressive angle changes as well and correct timing.
Days two, three and four had similar conditions. The same problems on the downwind plagued me, even though I was able to constantly get top five finishes. What would keep me off of the podium was the fact that I had two OCS’s and there was only one drop. This forced me to settle for a 9th place overall finish. This was disappointing and frustrating, but making mistakes is as much a part of the process as winning. I would like to thank the Competition Fund for supporting me on my latest venture.