Postcard from Palma
Hello! I am finally getting to sitting down and writing to you all the last leg of my Spain trip and my experience at the Princesa Sofia Regatta in Palma. This regatta is sort of full circle for me as it was my first big international regatta of my last campaign in 2023. Somehow, I had similar emotions going into it this year- nerves and feeling like the new kid around. After taking time away from windsurfing to finish school, I was reintroducing myself to people and reintroducing myself to racing. However, unlike in 2023, I knew my speed was similar to that of the top of the fleet and my board handling was much improved. So, despite the nerves, I was ready to race.
Palma is one of the biggest events of the year and there were over 70 women competing at the event. I got to Palma about two weeks before the event and raced with girls whenever I had the opportunity to and continued to work on some of the weaknesses that we identified in Cadiz. I wrapped up the training before the regatta with a great day of practice races where I had a strong speed advantage and even won a race!
The racing during the event was incredibly tricky. We switched into a weather pattern that hadn’t been happening during the training which meant new conditions to learn. The wind was blowing offshore and coming off tall mountains which made for some of the puffiest and shiftiest conditions I have ever raced in. The wind was ranging from 4 to 25 knots some races which being in the 25 knots makes the difference of winning and losing a race. Super challenging conditions like these are not my strong suit and I struggled to string together whole races. I had several moments of glory including several top three mark roundings and much greater consistency in success on the starting line.
After we were divided into gold and silver fleet for the last two days I got to learn a new and exciting skill, how to lead the fleet! On the last day of racing, we finally got onshore conditions which meant consistent wind, which is my favorite condition. I went out just looking to learn as much as possible and have some fun on the last day of the event, but I didn’t think I would win the first two races and then get two seconds! When you finish a sailing race in first, they sound off a horn to let people know the first board has finished, and crossing the finish line and hearing that horn is a feeling like none other.
Not only was I having success on the scoreline, but I was also seeing the puzzle pieces fall into place. All my starts set me up to have a clean lane to go upwind and show off my speed, I was passing people by making better decisions of where to tack around the race course, and I sailed fast. When you’re leading the race, it feels completely different. Every decision is yours to lead and you are balancing risk and reward higher than ever as you do not want to let one board passed you but certainly not any more than that either. I gave myself the opportunity to learn how to lead and it was the perfect way to wrap up Palma and my time in Spain.
After some time at home (and a trip to St. Louis for my one-year college reunion!) I am back in Europe training for the European Championships that starts in a week. We are in Portimão, Portugal and I am so excited to continue to train, race, learn and grow here!
