On January 21st, I left for Miami, Florida to compete in the 2010 Miami Olympic Classes regatta held out of Coral Reef Yacht Club. I sailed in the Men's single-handed class (the Laser full rig). I had only sailed 6 days with the larger full-rig, and didn't know what to expect, as this was my first ISAF Grade 1 event.

This regatta features the best international competition in each of the Olympic boats including the 470, 49er, Star, Finn, RSX windsurfer, Radial, and women's keel boat. There were 641 registrants from 45 countries.

It was truly an international experience. In my fleet, 104 sailors were divided up into 2 fleets for the qualifying series, with 2 races each day.

On the way in, it was hard to believe that only two races were sailed. Each race was over 60 minutes long, so I was physically and mentally exhausted by the completion of the final race.

The fleets were divided into gold and silver fleet at the end of the 3rd day. We then sailed 2 days in the final series, where the top ten sailors sailed in the medal race on the sixth day.

While I didn't make the medal race or gold fleet, my experience at the OCR has given me inspiration to follow my goals to raise my sailing abilities to the next level. I had the amazing opportunity to stay with Andrew Campbell, who represented the United States in the 2008 Olympics; and Charlie Buckingham, the 2009 college sailor of the year. Hanging out with these guys for over a week gave me insight to the top level of sailing that I couldn't have gotten anywhere else.

I look forward to building off this experience this summer as I compete in the 49er Europeans in Poland.

I want to thank everyone who has given me the opportunity to race in these regattas, including the Santa Barbara Youth Sailing Foundation, the Santa Barbara Yacht Club Women, and the Santa Barbara Yacht Club.

Results
Photos
US Sailing Article