One of the functions of MY SAIL is to support youth (and almost youth) teams in their quest to compete at levels higher than just the local regattas. Besides the obvious, incredible, sailing experience gained at these highly competitive events, the youth also learn a ton about goal setting, budgeting, and a host of other life skills.
MY SAIL sponsored 3 youth teams into the 2018 H-16 N. American Championships in Navarre, FL. Below is the report from the highest ranking youth team — 11th out of 67! (Boat #6 in photo.)
“Returning home after the Hobie 16 North American Championship, recently held in Navarre Beach,Fl, was certainly bittersweet. After a week of tough racing and a 25 hour drive each way I was excited to get home and finally enjoy a full night sleep in my own bed, but I wasn’t excited to go back to “real-life”. Coming home on the long drive did allow me to deeply reflect on the event and our performance as a team. Finishing in 11th place overall in a fleet of 66 was not something we had even considered asa possibility 
coming into the event, our goal was to place in the top 25, and as I drove home I kept thinking about how much more was possible for us as a team if we kept working to become better sailors. Though Caden and I sailed far and above our expectations, we still learned many valuable lessons, pertaining both to our performance on the water and our team organization off the water.
“On the water we had just three goals for every race; have good starts, sail clean, and and have consistently good scores. For the majority of the races held in the first three days of racing during the qualifier series we were able to achieve all of these things, our stars on all but two races were excellent, we were able to finish inside the top ten in all but 2 of the 8 races held in that portion of the regatta, and aside from one incident on leg 1 or race 1 where we had to do a penalty turn we managed to sail the rest of the regatta without commiting a foul. So at the end of day three we were sitting in 7th, which was both incredible and incredibly stressful, but we decided if we kept fulfilling our goal we could maintain our position. However he first two races held in gold fleet were our worst of the regatta. Two terrible starts and two very bad scores sent us out of the top ten. On the final day of racing we managed to salvage our regatta, finishing the last race with a 5. Getting a top 5 finish in gold fleet at a north americans for me was a very proud moment, and it managed to bring us just one point outside the top ten. After all was said and done, we managed to exceed our expectations and goals for this event and then some, and we are hoping to keep our momentum going next season.”