Win at Long Beach OCR

Following our time in Hood River, ODP made the journey down the coast to Long Beach California. Long Beach is known for its consistent, 14-17 knot sea breeze every day, and it absolutely delivered. We even got an awesome welcome from the locals!

The training days were beautiful. 75 degrees, and the promised 15 knot sea breeze. Following The Gorge, this felt easy, and gave us opportunity to perfect our technique, and develop different skills than the ones in Oregon. Leading into the event, my goal was to win, and I felt prepared to do so right up until the moment of the first race.

We had expected the event to be much like our training days, but due to the nature of the sport, it was completely different. Instead of our 15-17 knots, we had 7-10, as well as we were sailing in a different part of Long Beach. Basically, we had to completely adapt our sailing, while we were sailing. It taught everybody extremely valuable lessons about flexibility and mental fortitude.

I ended up winning the event, with 8 wins out of 10 races. I am extremely proud of this result, as it is proof that the effort I am putting in to my training is working. My improvements would not have been possible without the team. The ODP squad is unlike anything I have been a part of, and it makes me so excited to see the improvements that the entire US fleet is making.