I had a brilliant time at the Eastern Seaboard Regatta in Thailand in October 2024, competing as part of the 2024 Australian Optimist Development Squad (AODS).

 

The trip started well when a lady from the airline at Perth Airport spotted my Optimist sailing hoodie and asked me what I was heading to Thailand for.  She got very excited when she heard I was to be sailing there and gave me, my mum, dad and sister a "priority" upgrade.

 

I was the only one from WA and it was a lot of fun catching up with the other squad members from Australia once we arrived.  I had met them at the AODS training camp in Sydney in July.  Our coaches for the trip were Rob Brewer and Harry Higgins.

 

The wind conditions were not consistent for us when we were there. We got out training only twice before the regatta started. It was enough training though, to realise the current was very different to what I am used to in WA and Australia. Then the first two scheduled days of the regatta saw no racing due to lack of wind. We actually did launch on the second day, much to everyone’s excitement - 123 Optimists from 10 different countries all sailing out together, only to return 20 minutes later due to a huge electrical storm!  We still managed to have fun though, swimming in the yacht club pool while waiting and also playing soccer with sailors from all different countries.

 

On Day 3 of the regatta we launched around 11am as the wind came in. This was exciting! We were split into two fleets with 62 on the start line. We had four races and were on the water for six and a half hours. I was pleased with how I went and had some strong starts on the races with good finishes which would have secured me a spot in Gold Fleet for the final day of racing. However, the first race of the day I had received a starting penalty for being just over the line when the U Flag came down with a minute to go. Unfortunately, this meant my finish position in that race didn’t count and instead I had the maximum 63 points. And because we had only clocked up 4 races in the qualifying series we couldn’t drop our worst score (we needed 5 races to drop one).

 

I was disappointed, it meant I missed out on my goal of Gold Fleet and competed the final day in Silver Fleet.

 

But, I put it behind me and decided to go for it. The wind came in and we launched about 10:30am. We managed to get two races in and I had some great starts and results.

 

This pushed me up the Fleet and I ended up in second place - a podium finish for Australia which felt awesome.

 

I leaned a huge amount at the regatta. Especially though it was great to experience Thailand with my family and with sailors from all over Australia and the world.  At the recent Nationals in Queensland I was able to catch up with them.

 

A big thank you to WAIODA for all your support and the camps which helped prepare me for the experience.  And also to Ron Tough Yachting Foundation, South of Perth Yacht Club and Fremantle Sailing Club for their support!