WCC - A great regatta in Alamitos Bay Yacht Club: I am TT qualified !

After Nationals, I practiced two days for another regatta: the West Coast Championship, this time in Long Beach, CA.
When my Dad and I talked about my goals for this regatta, we agreed that I was not going there for qualification, but for practice and preparation for the next event.
Obviously, I still wanted to qualify, but I knew the wind conditions might not be favorable and there was a bunch of amazing sailors. I knew that I had to be in top 18 to qualify.

The conditions were just perfect, 7-15 knots, with small waves, and a little current, the air was warm and the Alamitos Bay Yacht Club awesome.

The first day of racing was great for me because I only got good races, with one great race. I was really happy because at the end of the day I was 15th: I knew I could mess up one race and it would still be good.
I started the second day of racing feeling good and thinking that I could actually qualify. When the first race wraps up, I finish near 25th, same for the the second race and the last one around 22nd.
The race committee decides to launch a final race. I'm 19th, even if I don't know my ranking, I know that given my results, I probably lost my qualification.
On the start of the last race, I decide to go for it, and give it all. I know that I have only 2 options: either a really good finish or I am not qualified. Wind picks up to 15 knots which is perfect for me.
I decide to follow my coach, Nico, recommendations and have a perfect start. I was actually very close to the best sailors.  At the top mark, I'm 6th, followed closely by three boats. I manage to finish 8th which put me in 17th overall (out of 56). At the end of that race, I knew I had done it.

When I came in, everybody was happy about my qualification. I feel grateful to have such an amazing support from my Coach, my sponsor Scality, my team, the RYC (where I started sailing) and SFYC, and my parents & family.
I am particularly thankful to Jerome Lecat, CEO of Scality, for his continuous support and confidence. I am proud that I reached the goal we had set with Jerome: being qualified for the Team Trials (Team Trials selection regatta qualifies sailors for both Optimist International Championships and for the US National team).
I am ready now to work hard and improve my sailing even further !

This was an awesome week-end for the whole family, as my Mom learned to sail her RS Aero and my brother, Yann won a race in green fleet.

Here are some pictures:

USODA National championship - Houston Yacht Club - July 2016

On July 28-31, I attended the USODA National championship in Houston. This regatta was a little special because on the sailing side the conditions were far from good. The wind was missing and the heat was here. Therefore, in 4 days of racing the race committee held only 4 races, as opposed to the 15 initially scheduled. It was really hard mentally (a big thank you to my GodMother, Caroline for helping me with the mental preparation). Since there were only 4 races, a single mistake could make you lose the regatta.  You had to be extremely concentrated on the event, and could not afford to have fun with your teammates in between the races.

The conditions were tricky: because of the storms the wind shifted a lot and died, then got back up. During the competition my results were ok, with one good race. The regatta was going well until the third day, at that point I was 100th which I couldn't complain about. Until the point where my Dad and I started leaving to the hotel, we went and checked the protest board (if you have have a protest you have to go in a room and debate with judges). My Dad got a call saying that within ten minutes I was supposed to be in the protest room.
After the protest, I got disqualified at my best race.
My Dad and I went back to the Hotel very sad. My Dad did the maths and from 100, I ended up 162 (out of 243). There were 141 qualifying spots, plus 13 international sailors, and two or three age out.
I told my Dad that if following day, one race was held I could still qualify with the throw-out (after five or six races your worst race goes away).
If this was a normal event I would of not been worried, but since in three days the race committee only got four races in, I was scared. It turns up that on the fourth day no races were held.  I was really sad and disappointed but I got a great lesson of sailing and life: there is no done deal.

I left Houston more determined than ever to work and prepare for my next regatta and get my qualification.