By Martha Pitt
Every year, the US Sailing Center in Martin County, Florida hosts one of the most competitive 420 regattas in the country – the 420 Midwinter Championship. The country’s top junior sailors travel to the hopeful warmth of Florida sun to compete in the three day regatta over President’s Day weekend. This year, eighty-four boats sailed the event in probably the widest range of conditions possible, with very light breeze just following postponement to nearing small craft advisory winds that cut racing short on Sunday, and blowing from just about every direction through the weekend. The challenging and changing conditions pushed the sailors to constantly adjust throughout each day and each race, and the truly versatile sailors were able to come out on top.
Emerging victorious at this year’s event were Esteban Forrer and crew Christopher Ford from California. The duo showed great consistency throughout the event through the final day, beating second place Alex Curtiss and Daniel Ron (from Chicago and Houston, respectively) by just four points. The two seventeen year old boys come from opposite ends of the state, Forrer from Coronado in Southern California while Ford lives north in Millbrae, just outside of San Francisco. But the distance has not slowed these two down – for the past year they have been competing together, and have consistently been able to get themselves to the front of the fleet! Their top results from the past year include 1st at the Buzzards Bay Regatta, 4th at Orange Bowl, 9th at 420 Nationals, and 7th at the Hyannis Regatta. They also compete together in 29ers, finishing 5th at Youth Champs and 3rd at 29er Nationals. Listen as the Esteban and Christopher talk of their experiences, explain their success, and shed light on what is in store in the future!
S1D: How long have you been sailing 420s?
EF: I started sailing C420 four years ago. I just started sailing the I420 this year.
CF: I started racing Club 420s in 2009. I started my freshman year when I went to Bemis with Matt Van Rensselaer.
S1D: What other types of boats do you/have you sailed?
EF: I sailed Naples Sabots, Optimists (qualified for Worlds 2009 Brazil) CFJs, I420s, and 29ers.
CF: I race 29ers and I420s in addition to the Club 420. I’ve sailed all types of boats ranging from I14s to Optimists to foiling Moths.
S1D: Have you guys sailed together a lot in the past or is this a new partnership?
CF: We’ve been sailing together for a little over a year now. We met at JO’s in Santa Barbara then started sailing together at the Youth Worlds Qualifier in Texas.
S1D: How often do you practice?
EF: We actually don’t get to practice much due to our distance. On average maybe a weekend a month of practice and a lot of regattas!
CF: Whenever there is an event. We like to get to the venue a couple days in advance to tune up before the regatta. Other than that, we use local regattas as a training ground for our larger events. We would practice more if we lived closer together.
S1D: What does a typical 420 practice look like?
EF: Our practices are fun, yet competitive. Our coach really knows how to balance a practice perfectly.
CF: To start, we always focus on boathandling – tacks, gybes, sets, gybe-sets, douses, gybe-douses, accelerations. After that, we line up with our tuning partners and work on straight-line speed. When the wind is less than cooperative, we take time to work on our tuning and rigging of the boat to make sure it is perfectly set up for racing.
S1D: What are your favorite conditions in which to sail?
EF: I enjoy sailing in all types of conditions. My favorite has to be when the breeze pipes up with some big waves.
CF: I enjoy sailing in the light stuff (2-5) and breeze on (20+). The light stuff adds a huge mental challenge to racing whereas the breeze-on conditions add a physical one. Flat water is always fun, but sailing in chop makes things more interesting. It adds a ne
w challenge to racing.
S1D: Who usually coaches you?
CF: Michael Anderson-Mitterling and Parker Mitchell. Both are fantastic and provide a lot of insight.
S1D: Do you have a team that you sail with regularly, or do you join coach groups independently?
CF: We do a little bit of both. At large regattas, we race with Team Dave [out of Minnetonka, MN]. At the smaller local regattas like the Perry series events, we sail independently or with one other boat.
S1D: What did you think of the conditions at Midwinters?
EF: I thought the conditions were very fun. I think the last day was the trickiest of the days to understand what the wind was doing.
S1D: Were you expecting to do so well at this event? What were your goals going into the event?
EF: Going into the event we definitely expected to do well and compete with the top group. Our goal was to have fun, and to finish in the top three overall.
CF: We went in hoping for a good result. Winning is always the goal but we were by no means expecting to do so. Our goal was to be consistently in the top five every race. We knew if we were able to do that, we would have a shot at finishing overall up at the top of the fleet.
S1D: Who did you see as your toughest competition?
EF: Our toughest competition was most of the So-Cal sailors, as well with some LISOT sailors, and Alex Curtiss [of Chicago YC].
CF: There are a ton of really talented sailors in the fleet. Jack Jorgenson and his crew Savana Brown [from Alamitos Bay YC] are really solid, Alex Curtis and Daniel Ron [from Houston YC] are another fast team. Will Holz and his crew Rose Edwards [also from Chicago YC] are also quick. Charlie Lalumiere [from Portland YC in Maine] is really quick. Of course, you take a look at the competition, but at the end of the day, it’s all about sailing your own race.
S1D: You were coached by Mikee Anderson-Mitterling and Parker Mitchell. What were the best things about your coaches at the event? Did they play an active role in your strategy and success?
EF: Our coaches helped us a lot at the event. Their input was very helpful, and combining it with my ideas were key.
CF: Our coaches are fantastic. They provide tons of insight as they’ve done a ton of racing (both Olympic, dinghys, and in sportboats). They help us understand what the conditions are doing and how we can use those changes to our advantage. They both provide words of wisdom and pep talks when we need them. Personally, Mikee is a role model type figure. His professionalism when it comes to both sailing and life has definitely rubbed off on me and its been a huge benefit to my sailing and life.
S1D: The Race Committee was being very aggressive with the Z flag and the black flag, which set a lot of teams back in the standings – did that effect your starting strategy at all?
EF: Back from my Opti day I have become very familiar with the Black and Z flags. I have learned how to change my starting game plan and know exactly how aggressive I can be with out being penalized.
CF: Honestly, not a whole lot. We were just focused on getting clean, conservative starts that would allow us to round the windward mark with the top pack. From then, we could make our moves and work up into the top five.
S1D: As is the case in regattas with lots of races, consistency is key – how were you able to stay consistent in the changing conditions and challenging fleet?
EF: The biggest contribution to staying consistent in the regatta was testing the course repeatedly after every race and watch the fleet ahead of me to figure out the next tactical decision.
CF: Being conservative and taking the regatta race by race helped out a lot. We knew we didn’t have to go out and win every race. We played the odds and hedged all of our decisions so we would finish each race with a “keeper.”
S1D:
The lead was tight between a few teams going into day three of racing – what were your thoughts going into that last day? The last race?
EF: Walking to the venue the last day I convinced myself it was just another day of sailing. There was nothing special about that day and I just needed to do what I do best. After the first race my two closest competitors behind me finished with about the same score as myself. The points didn’t change and I still had my five point lead. In the second race, I finished 11th with the second and third place boats finishing 1st and 2nd in their races. This put me four points behind first and tied for second, but I would lose all tie-breakers. When I talked to my coaches they didn’t have much to say. Their exact words were ‘You just HAVE to win this race’. And after a very tough race I managed a 2nd, which sealed the regatta for me.
CF: The last day was a fun one. Going into the last race, we knew the point spread up until that point. We were the second start so while we were going upwind I kept track of the current standings of the fleet in front of us. Regardless, we knew we had to have a good race, so we went out and did just that. Our coach Mikee gave us a talk before the race and gave us his “quintessentially Mikee” words of wisdom.
S1D: Looking forward, what’s next? Are you guys going to continue to sail together this summer?
EF: Our summer plans are still being pieced together. As we both are going to college next year we are trying to find a schedule that works. However, I have planned to sail Youth Champs 2012 with Daniel Ron, where we plan to take another big regatta under our belts, especially if the wind cooperates!
S1D: Any goals as you look further into 2012 and beyond?
EF: I plan to attend either Old Dominion University, College of Charleston, or St. Mary’s College of Maryland (in no particular order). I intend on doing college sailing and 470 sailing through college, hopefully preparing me for an olympic campaign!
CF: Absolutely. College sailing is something that both Esteban and I will be doing. Additionally, the possibility of an olympic campaign isn’t entirely out of the picture.
S1D: Do you have any other comments about your victorious experience at Midwinters?
CF: It was a ton of fun sailing the Midwinters regatta. It was a great regatta and its always a blast sailing with Esteban. Big thanks go out to US Sailing, the US Sailing Center there in Jensen Beach, our friends at Sturgis Boatworks, our coaches Mikee and Parker, our parents, Team Dave Sailing, and all of our competitors. Without them, the regatta wouldn’t have been nearly as successful or fun. Thank you guys so much!
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