Cabrillo Beach Harken #3, May 20th- 21st 2017

On the week-end of May 20th-21st, my brother and I raced at Harken #3 in Cabrillo Beach California. Cabrillo Beach Yacht Club's venue (CBYC), was pretty windy and since it is a very shallow venue, we had to sail in big chop. This can be very penalising in an Opti, due to the bow of the boat being square.

The first day, I was very consistent with scores 5, 2, 3, 2. I was very happy with my day since I was 2nd overall and rounded the top mark  about 20 seconds ahead of the third, during 2 out of 4 races, which is very good.

The second day, my hiking straps broke on the second race which caused me to lose my second place overall and become 3rd. Although having broken my hiking straps (which made me not able to sail at full speed upwind), I was still going faster than most people which made me very happy. Overall this was definitely my favorite Harken regattas.

A special congratulations to my brother Yann for finishing every race on the second day of racing even with winds going up to 23 knots!

This is the system I set up to continue racing after my hiking strap failure:

My ripped hiking straps:

 My award for being 2nd Red Fleeter (age group):

Nacra 15 sailing May 27th and 28th 2017 @ABYC

On the week-end of the 27th and 28th of May, I attended for the first time in my life a Nacra 15 regatta. I sailed with my friend Luke, who I met 2 years ago sailing Optis at SFYC.

On the first race, a part of the boat broke which caused us to retire. The part that broke was a simple bungee that was not strong enough. Speed is key to victory in all catamarans, and to achieve that, you need a team that has sailed for a long time together, which was not our case.

On the second day, our boat speed had improved and we were almost faster upwind than the competition. The first race, we had our spinnaker (front sail) that got caught in the front of the boat. After rounding the top mark, we tried to undo the knot but ended up flipping. Luckily, we still finished the race. The second race we were able to round the top mark second but ended up capsizing and losing our lead on third place. This capsize caused us to break the same bungee again. After fixing it we continued sailing. The following race, we did our best to keep up with the others, we were just as fast as them on the upwind but still a little slower downwind.

During this regatta, I learned how to improve my boat speed downwind. I also learned how to fly the windward hull upwind which I will use on my family's F16 Viper. I would like to thank Luke and Charles Froeb for taking care of me over this Memorial Day Weekend. A big thank you also to Erwan Griziaux (Charles' crew & a real great French F18 sailor) for all the tips on how to sail better and faster: this really helped Luke and I achieve a better boat speed.

I can not wait to sail with Luke again!

This is the trailer the Froeb use to bring the boats from San Francisco to LA and back!

 Luke and I after a stop at In-n-out:

Team trials 2017 @Brant Beach Yacht Club

Three weeks ago, I attended the biggest Opti regatta in the US, the regatta I have been practicing and waiting for the past two years: USODA Opti Team Trials at Brant Beach Yacht Club. This regatta is very special for me, as when Jerome decided to sponsor me, we agreed on a goal: the USODA Team Trials. I put a lot of time and effort into going to this event, which requires to be qualified.

For the sailors on the West Coast, the biggest challenge is to be able to sail, start, and do well in these bigger fleets that we do not have. This is why I went to the USODA Nationals and the USODA Spring Team Qualifiers.

Team Trials is just like Spring Team Qualifiers: a regatta where sailors have the opportunity to qualify for the US National Team, Development Team and to be selected to represent the US in international events. Team Trials has five events that you can qualify for, in order, Worlds, Europeans, Asians, North Americans, and British Nationals. My goal was to make British Nationals, which I missed because I ranked 85th total and the last selected boy was ranked 83rd, while the last selected girl was 34th in Silver so 114th.

Since Team Trials is such an important event, the US Team I qualified for, (Topsport Vlandereen in Belgium) this past November, decided to host us a practice at Brant Beach Yacht Club, one week prior to the event. Thanks to this practice, I discovered the venue which really helped me, I also met my teammates and my coaches.

Having 222 sailors competing, the racing officials are forced to split us into three groups of 74 sailors to make the starting line and the race course shorter. If you scored 20th in one race, that will count as a 60th overall because your score has to be multiplied by three due to the three fleets. The first three days you rotate between all fleets depending on your overall standing and the last day we are divided into Gold fleet (top 75 sailors) and Silver fleets (A & B). I was very happy to end up 10th in Silver meaning 85th total.

On day one, for the first race of the day I was pretty tensed, I was sort of nervous to start my first Team Trials race ever. I had on OK start and just followed what my coaches told me to do and finished 47th. I was not happy but I knew that this was a 4 day regatta so I was determined to do better next race. The second race I did a little better with a score around 30th. The next two races I got two top 25th which I was really happy with.

The second day I was really happy to go out for Day #2, the first race was really hard, I started and ever since the start I was not doing well, I finished 71st. From there, my scores became a lot better with a 30th and a 25th. Although this day was hard, I stayed focused and I believe mindfulness really helped me get back into the race and reset from that first bad race.

The third day, I woke up in 25 knots of wind, lots of rain, and temperatures around 10 degrees celsius. After rigging my sail I had to attach it to my boat so it would not fly away. We waited 45 minutes and then the race committee called the day off as the wind was gusting to 30 knots.

The last day of racing I was sad not to make gold fleet, but decided I would like to be the first SFYC sailor and do well in silver. My first race I scored 15th and I was really happy. My second I got 17th. My last race of the event I scored 26th which was an OK result.

At the end of the regatta when I looked at the results and saw that I was 10th in silver, I was really happy but wished that I was in gold. I definitely think that doing some mindfulness and workouts really helped me sail better and become a better sailor in general. If you want to learn more about my preparation you can check out my last blog post.

Overall this regatta was an awesome experience. I loved competing with some of the best sailors in the world. I really liked the venue although sometimes very choppy. Plus I had the chance to sail a Winner boat which is the best boat on the market.

At Team Trials, Collie Sails brought a Waszp which was pretty cool to watch. My Dad got a turn on it and learned a lot of new techniques. I can't wait to be representing the USA in Belgium this summer with the Flanders Team and my coaches Peri Brusa and Mitch Hall.



                         My teammates and I launching for Day #1 of practice:

The view from BBYC Beach :

The SFYC Race Team with our two coaches Nico and Tommy:

Henry and I with the SFYC flag:

The sunset from the beach we were launching from:

Me rigging my boat:

Henry and I in the airport flying out to New Jersey:

My awesome Dad and I:

A picture from Matias Capizzano of me (in the red):

A part of the fleet launching to the race course:

My coach and I talking about the day:

Thank you to my Dad and Mom for supporting me through this journey of Opti Sailing, you have been so helpful and supportive.

Thank you to Jerome for sponsoring me and making this whole journey possible.

Thank you to my family for their love and support.

A special thank you to Caroline for helping me with all the mindset preparation.

Thank you all for making my dream possible!!!!!!!!! 

Preparing for the 2017 USA Team Trials

I have decided that since Team Trials is coming up really fast (6th to 13th of May), I have to get ready to do the best I can. So I have decided to practice my starts really seriously, to do some workouts, to do some extra practices to work on my boat speed, and to practice some mindfulness.

So an opportunity came up, the Harken #2 regatta at SFYC. I decided to try the hardest I could on starting first row (meaning with no one in front of me), and on the favoured side of the line. When I started for the first race, I was on the favoured side and started with a perfect start. The whole regatta went on the same way except one race, which was the one with the most wind (20+ knots steady). I sadly started second row, so I had boats in front of me. This did not bring me down, I tacked and sailed to a puff. Later on I found my self in second place, and the first place sailor tacked but the wind was so strong he almost flipped, so I was then in first. I stretched my lead on the upwind and the reach, then when I started to go downwind, my team mate started to catch up to me, and then the fleet did too. At the bottom gate I was barely ahead, the whole last upwind leg, my team mate was getting further and further away from me. At the end, I won the race. Overall at the regatta across 8 races in 2 days, I finished 5th out of 41 champion fleet sailors, which I am happy with, given that there were two members of the USA National Team and one member of the Development Team. My little 9 years old brother Yann who has recently joined the champion fleet finished every race in conditions going from 5-23 knots, which is awesome.

Workouts wise, I have been working out every single day, and plan to continue on. I have been doing some running, biking, and leg workouts. I plan on continuing so except during my Spring Break vacation, when I will be sailing to practice my boat speed.

I have also been doing some mindfulness, which helps me when I am in a tough situation, like a bad start, a bad race. Mindfulness was introduced to me by my Dad a little less than a year ago. I have been using different apps on my phone, and the one I prefer is called "Breathe". This app gives me suggestions on what kind of sessions I should do based on how I am feeling. I believe this has helped me in sailing but also in life, from dealing with a bad start to a class mate lying about my subject.


Here is a picture of the award ceremony, second in Red fleet (my age group):

Here is the overall results (congrats to my friend Henry):

Here is a picture of my teammates and I rounding the top mark (photo credit Jack Boeger):

2016 Midwinters in New Orleans

From November 23rd to 25th, I attended the USODA Midwinters in New Orleans, and this time unlike last year it was also the qualifiers for the Spring US Teams.

The qualifiers is a regatta like Team Trials, except it is an open regatta. If you do well in this event you have the possibility to represent the USA in a International event like South Americans Championship.

The venue was really nice, with wind from 5-15 knots, no current, and waves up to 2 feet tall, during the clinic we had before the event. However conditions were not so good for the regatta itself, which was supposed to be three days long. The first two days, my fleet did not race, so we only had one long day of racing. I finished 134th (out of 265 Optis), so not the best result. After this event I compared it with all my USODA regattas since I joined SFYC. I always do better when the regatta is 2-4 days of racing, so when you have several balanced days of sailing.

The first day of the regatta was basically waiting around, although my coach Nico asked us to stay focused, calm, and to not hurt ourselves. The second day we did not run races, although the Committee tried their best. They tried to run a race twice: on the first attempt I was 10th, so when they abandoned I was pretty unhappy, for the second attempt I had a bad start which got me in the back of the fleet, so that time I was happy they abandoned.

On the third and final day, the race committee managed to get 5 races off. The conditions were really shifty, with really different wind speeds, from 5 knots to 15 knots, and sometimes the waves were up to 4 feet tall. Since the conditions were so different, it was hard to keep up with the wind pattern and where it was going. Although most starts were on the pin side of the line and on the left side of the course, the wind was always shifting during the race itself. My best score in a race was 21st .

This regatta was an awesome experience just like last year, and this time most of my friends from SFYC were here with me which was really nice.

I would like to say thank you to my Mom that came with me to New Orleans and who followed me during the event. I would also like to say a big good job to Henry Boeger, my team mate who is going to the South American Championship in Paraguay, he finished 25th overall.


BREAKING NEWS: I am extremely happy and proud to announce that I have been invited to represent the USA in July at the 2017 Topsport Vlaanderen Regatta in Belgium. 


This is a picture of me sailing:


This is my whole team in a meeting before the next race:

This is me in the first race of the last day:

Picture credits: Laura Burns




This is a beautiful sunset picture:


This is Henry and I talking with Jason in the blue:


This is were all the Optis were stored:


This is all of us coming back on the first day:

Bermuda Nationals 2016 - my first international regatta!

The Bermudan Opti Nationals (organised by BODA) where held at Dockyards in Bermuda, from November 10th to 13th. This regatta had a lot of international sailors such as teams from USA, Belize, Canada and Bermuda. The Polish National Champion was also competing. As you can probably imagine, this was a tough regatta. Conditions were solid 13 knots with some times gusts to 25 knots. The waves were the toughest I think, because they were not like waves in San Francisco (long ocean waves), but they were little short chop. It was complicated, because you had to really work on getting the bow of the boat up and over the waves.

My result was not so great (38th out of 75 in Champion fleet), but again this was my first international event.

At this regatta I learned a lot of interesting things on clouds. For example, I learned that a cloud coming your way would make the wind shift right a little bit, and the same cloud with rain would make the wind shift even more right. This happened a lot on the race course. It mostly happened during the last leg, upwind to the finish. One of those times, a sailor from Canada who was in the back of the fleet ended up winning the race. This got people really frustrated, but thanks to all my mindfulness activities I managed to keep my calm and finish the race.

The best part of the event was visiting two of the three America's Cup bases. I visited Oracle and Artemis. The Oracle base was already planned, since it was organized by BODA, but the Artemis base was a surprise. The reason I got to go is because I was sailing with the Canadian  National Team, and their head coach is the friend of the head coach of Artemis. In the bases, we were allowed to see the boats, but in the Oracle base we were also allowed to touch the boats, which for me is just amazing.

My awesome brother Yann had a great regatta in Green fleet, he managed to pull of the 2nd place!!!

Overall I had an excellent time there, even if I did not get the results I wanted. After all this was my first international regatta ever, and it was awesome.

Thank you Belvedere Cove Foundation for supporting me it really was useful !

This is me sailing out of the harbour:



This is Yann during a work out with the Green Fleet:




This is Yann sailing:





This the Champ fleet waiting for the signal to sail out:



These are the two AC 45T boats I saw:

My best USODA regatta ever?

Last week-end I attended the 2016 USODA PCC (Pacific Coast Championship) at Ventura in South California, a little north of Los Angeles.

I went there with my good friend Henry Boeger, my bro Yann and my Dad. Ventura is a venue with usually light conditions but this week-end it was supposed to blow up to 25 knots.

The first day it was pretty light, we spent more time waiting for the wind than racing. My results were up and down, with a 24th and a 5th. West wind peaking at 5-7 knots and long big Pacific Ocean swell. I was 14th after one day, the second day was windy up to 25 knots from the East, and then light from the West, also pretty up and down. With a 6th, 5th before the last race I was 5th overall, then it got really light. Sadly I got a 27th on the last race after the terrific wind shift (180 degrees), getting me in a solid 10th overall, and 5th in blue fleet.

This is a USODA regatta, so as usual the top 25% of competitors qualify for USA Team Trials. There were 20 slots available for qualification. So technically I was qualified, although this wasn't mandatory after my successful qualification at WCC a few weeks ago.

Overall I had a great time, getting my first top ten in a USODA regatta, finishing 2nd of my race team from SFYC, and very happy to have sailed among several members of the USA National Team: Jake, Jagan, Taft, Will, Ryan. A great way to celebrate my 1st anniversary as a member of the SFYC race team !

Here are the final results for the qualified sailors:

Here is a picture of my friend Henry and I:

Top 10 overall award ceremony:

My bro Yann sleeping in his Opti waiting for food poisoning to stop and for the wind to cool down :-)

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