At this very moment I am sitting at gate 17 in terminal 5 at JFK Airport in Jamaica, New York. Our flight has been delayed by an hour and ten minutes and we have been sitting here since, oh, I don't know, 5 o'clock? Regardless, I am getting pretty sleepy. We had dinner at one of the terminal's nice sit-down restaurants. After eating a goat cheese and bacon pizza, there is no wonder why I am getting sleepy!

My last post was full of depression and frustration, but I am happy to report that my first Nationals ended with happiness! We did have one more bad race with a 26th finish, but it was nice to see that one of the top sailors, Greg Fisher, was right with us. But after that, we just didn't care what our placing was anymore. Just sail and have a great time. With this mind-set, we were really loose and calm. I found myself in the 5th race cheering on everyone in front of us which I never do! We finished in 20th which I was thrilled about because we were in the top 20 of that race instead of the bottom 20!

We were able to cram a 6th race after the 5th race and we had a pretty good start. Well, except we got boxed in at the last moment by a motley crew of young boys. But we tacked off and finally got a lane of clean air. After pestering my dad to follow God aka David Dellenbaugh who won almost every race by that point, my dad finally started to think like God. We had excellent roll-tacks, jibes, sets, and it helped so much. Soon we were passing boats and we finished in 11th place!

The last race was bittersweet because it was the last race. It was truly a dream come true to go sailing day after day instead of a couple times every month or more. All 79 boats were greeted with WIND!! Although there was some nasty slop n' chop, the wind created an incredible ride. The downwind legs were absolutely insane and at some point it felt like we were flying but getting buckets of water thrown at us. I was encrusted with salt before we were halfway done with the race! Once again we gained and passed on quite a few boats before crossing the finish line in 11th place!

With a great end to this regatta, my Mom, Dad, and I were content on our 16th overall out of 84 boats. Well, I think I'm more content on our placing than my mom, but then again, this is was my first Nationals!

Well, our plane has FINALLY arrived! So I will end this post with a list of what I should talk about in the next post; Thursday night shenanigans, Black Duck, banquet, Stew Leonards, host, and everything else. Talk to you all in Portland, Oregon!