Our competition, on the other hand, turned up their sailing a notch and were able to improve their finishes. We finished 5th overall, just eight points from third place. Winning nationals often means finishing in the top four of a sixteen boat fleet every race. Sailing in a small fleet can be more difficult because finishing in the top quarter means getting first or second every race. As I review our scores from the weekend I notice that we did finish in the top four almost every race and we should feel good about that.
Consistency is the key to victory in sailing and our practice has paid off.
Our senior Mike Bailey and junior crew Trish Perry started A division and freshman Jon Boyd and senior Simrun Kalra started B division. Jon and Simrun sailed well, finishing consistently in the top 3. Without winning a single race Jon and Simrun had a average finish of 3.18. They ended up third in B division, only beat by two seniors from Hawaii and Stanford. There wont be anyone returning next year that beat Jon.