With only one day to go before the contest started, I went back to the point to practice. This time I faced my fears of catching the waves close to the rocks and went for it. I caught two waves far upwind and had epic rides down the racetrack and into the Chili Bowl. Arriving back to camp feeling motivated and ready to compete! Within an hour I found out that I was sailing my first heat the next day with my very talented friend Sarah Hauser and Tomimo Noguchi, and the nerves came right back. How am I supposed to get any sleep?
The morning of the contest my stomach was in knots. Why did I sign up for this? Before I know it my first heat is here. I sail out and wait on the outside for the green flag to go up, as I notice the wind continuing to drop. The heat starts and I manage to find a wave right away, I get a few turns and head back out. With long periods between sets and the swell dropping it was hard to find waves. At one point I crashed and took a few waves on the head but managed to catch one more decent wave before the heat ended. I came to the beach feeling pretty disappointed and my mood quickly changed when I received the news that I had placed second and was advancing, I couldn’t believe it! The next day I competed in my second heat, which was the semi-final. I was calmer this time and worked on keeping a steady mind and focussed on what I wanted to achieve. I needed to get first or second in this heat to advance. I found a great first set wave, drove into my bottom turn and realized I was too late; the lip hit my sail causing my gear to come back at my face. I went on to have two other decent waves during the heat, but the crash on that first wave deprived me of the points I needed to advance to the final. I took third in the heat and the contest was over for me.