On December 27th and 28th the 2019 Sailing Nationals were held in the Crow Island Navy Base in Colombo. Throughout that week we had multiple training sessions at Crow Island so that we could get used to the area. Because of this we had lots of time to rig up our boats and get them ready for the races.

When the day came we learned that on the first day we would be having 4 races and then 2 races on the second day. We started to launch at 11:00 and began the races. The first race was a good start, where I came in 5th. However it got better in the next 2 races as I came in 4th and 3rd. I was in a stable overall 4th place and on the second day if I worked hard I had a good chance of getting into the top 3 and getting a trophy.

Sailing at the nationals, I am boat 215431 (This and cover photo from from Sri Lanka Navy)

However, that night I got very sick and was sadly unable to go to sail for the second day of nationals. We were travelling the day after so I didn’t want to risk cancelling our trip, so I didn’t sail. This was a disappointing end to the nationals, however I am happy to know that I was up at the top fighting for the podium spots.

Learning Outcomes

I feel like these nationals relate to multiple CAS learning outcomes. It relates to ‘Identify own strengths and develop own areas for growth’ as I realize that I am getting pretty good at sailing, and have been improving since I started the Laser class at the beginning of the year. This also relates to the learning outcome of ‘Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills in the process’. As this was my first nationals in this Laser class it was quite challenging, and I did develop a few little skills while sailing out in the ocean.