This past weekend Dalton and I went up to Panama City to compete in the F16 National Championship. We arrived Thursday to a good fleet of boats already rigged and heading out to the practice race. We were quick to rig and head out as well, but came in after only a 15 minute sail because of a setting sun. Friday brought about challenging light wind conditions and we had two races where we didn't place as well as we had hoped. Saturday consisted of a 5-10 knot breeze that lasted throughout half of the first race but became more patchy quickly after. Fortunately, the seabreeze kicked in somewhat later in the day and we were able to pull off some better results, coming in 1st in the second race of the day and 7th in the third. Sunday provided the best conditions of the event; a consistent 10-15 knot breeze. We pulled off 4th, 2nd, 2nd, and 5th place finishes in the four races of the day, landing us in 6th place overall. This event, even though the wind did not follow the forecast, was a great learning experience and a ton of fun. This event was run very well and I would highly suggest attending future regattas at this venue!
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| Photo thanks to Charmaine Le Patourel |