Progress in Palma
After only four days at home after the Hawaii training camp, I boarded my plane to Miami. I would then travel to Madrid and then to Palma de Mallorca. My gear didn’t make it on the plane in Madrid but luckily got on the next flight, only two hours later. I took the bus from the airport and met up with the US iQ Men’s team right near the beach where we’d be launching from in Can Pastilla. I got a Poke Bowl (they had a delicious tofu one!) which would become a staple meal of the trip. As I was sitting there I just kept seeing all of the best windsurfers and sailors in the world; if I could name a top iQFoiler, they were definitely in Palma. Palma was the first World Cup event of the year at the Trofeo Princesa Sofia Regatta. It was also my first time going to an event of this scale. There were 100 iQ Women competing and 140 iQ Men and a total of over 1300 competitors across all of the Olympic sailing classes. It was absolutely unreal to watch so many iQs launch off the beach and then look out onto the bay and see more Olympic sailboats than you’ve ever seen before. Beyond the pure quantity and skill level, the passion and energy around the boat park was unlike I’ve ever experienced.
I arrived to Palma a week before the regatta started. I filled this week with lots of hours on the water training, working out, and meeting new people and spending time with old friends. On the water, I was trying to become familiar with the conditions and dial in my speed and maneuvers in the waves in Palma. I was primarily training with a friend from Brazil and another American. One day I went and did practice races with the whole Israeli team and lots of other countries. This was my first time lining up with some of the best in the world from so many countries and it only made me more excited for racing to begin. Then on the last day before the regatta I took the bus to explore the city, a perfect way to spend a rest day while you’re traveling in Europe!
Unfortunately, the first day of the regatta we went out after the Men raced but the breeze had died too much at this point so we could not race. The second day I got to be on the start line for the first time for four slalom races. There is no room for error when starting slalom in a really competitive fleet and I certainly learned that after two bad starts the first two races. By the third and fourth races, I was starting well but still not matched for speed on the reach with the top of the fleet. It was so fun to race with so many girls and it very clearly outlined what I need to improve which is super important. On the third day we did five course races in medium breeze. I had better starts than I was expecting but still not competitive with the top of the fleet-it was my first time starting with 50 boards! I had some good moments and some bad moments during the races which was to be expected for my first big international event. But more importantly I learned so much about racing and what I need to work on which is so invaluable. On the last day of racing we were divided into silver and gold fleet based off the results from the first three days of the event. So on the last day, silver fleet did two course races. My first race was not great as I had a bad start and fell off the foil due to light wind. But I won the second race!! It was so exciting to lead for a whole race and truly showed me what I am capable of when things go right. It ended up being the last race of the regatta and I can’t think of a better way to wrap up an unimaginable two weeks of learning with the best in the world!
