After finishing a training camp in Dún Laoghaire, Ireland, we headed over to Los Angeles for a block of training and racing. We were based out of the venue that will host the 2028 Olympic Games, which made it a pretty cool opportunity to get some experience racing there a couple of years ahead of time.
I was lucky enough to stay with two host families George and Sally McCormack, as well as the Bloxams. They very generously opened their homes to myself and another Australian sailor. I arrived about a week before the rest of the team, and George and Sally went out of their way to show us around the area. We spent some time exploring the coast south of LA, including San Clemente and Crystal Cove, which was a great way to settle in before racing got underway.
The first event was the North American Championships. Conditions were generally very light, but there was also a surprisingly strong current. At times it was strong enough that the ILCA 4 fleet couldn’t even make it over the start line. The second day ended up with no completed racing, so for the final two days we moved inside the harbour where the conditions were more manageable. Racing inside the harbour meant the races were quite short, around 25 minutes each, which made starts and early positioning even more important. I finished the event 14th overall.
A week later we raced the San Pedro OCR, which is part of the Sailing Grand Slam Series. The conditions were much more consistent, with plenty of hiking and good racing throughout the week. We were also using the new Vakaros race management system. It seemed to make the starts run much more smoothly, with fewer general recalls and less waiting around between attempts. The fleet also seemed a bit better behaved when everyone knew their sail number was being tracked and couldn’t hide in the crowd when over.
I finished 24th overall at the OCR. While the result wasn’t quite where I wanted it to be, it was another valuable week of racing against a strong international fleet and gave me plenty to take away moving into the next training block.
Overall, it was a really enjoyable trip. Between training at the future Olympic venue, competing in two major regattas, and getting to experience Southern California thanks to George and Sally’s hospitality, it was a great opportunity and another important step in the campaign towards 2028.
