When Winning Doesn’t Feel Right

A ship is safe in a harbor, but that is not what ships are built for. I believe it's essential for atheletes to have the courage to improve our sport

The 2025 Youth Championships were, for me, the best of times and the worst of times. I want to express my gratitude to my family and my coach for their support, to our sport’s governing body, volunteers, and the host venue for selection and participation in this championship event. At the same time, I hope readers will understand my sense of duty to also raise an important issue to help make our sport better.

What happened at Youth Champs, and what could change

“You haven’t won anything if you don’t have the respect of your competitors.”
— Robert Johnstone, Founder of the Youth Championships for the governing body for competitive sailboat racing

I had no big expectations for myself. I was just excited to race against some of the best youth sailors in the country, learn a lot, and see how I stacked up. I never imagined I’d end the regatta feeling both incredibly proud of my sailing and deeply disappointed in how things played out.

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The Regatta

I was racing in the ILCA 6 fleet, with both boys and girls combined, 62 boats in total. The girls were ranked based on our overall fleet scores and finishing positions within the combined fleet. The racing was tough. The top boys are fast, and with big fleets, starts and boat handling have to be sharp. The weather didn’t make things easy either: the first two days were light and unstable, and we spent long hours on the water waiting for a breeze. In total, we only managed three races, just enough to make the event count.

Going into the final day, I just wanted to put together solid races. To my surprise, I finished the regatta in second place among the girls and, more importantly, as the top 19-and-under sailor. That meant I had earned the single U.S. spot for the Youth World Championships. I was shocked, proud, and honestly a little overwhelmed. I’ve worked hard to improve, and it felt like it had all come together.

“It felt like everything I’d been working toward had finally clicked.”

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The Protest

That feeling didn’t last long. When I got back to shore, I found out for the first time that I was being protested by the sailor who had finished just behind me. She claimed that I hit a mark during the last race, which I didn’t. I was stunned. Even more surprising, the witness they brought forward (ultimately in third place) wasn’t near the rounding in question, and it seemed that personal connections may have influenced how the testimony was perceived. Finally, the ultimate U19 female winner and her witness pressured my witness not to testify – not to share evidence that likely would have prevented me from being disqualified.

This was only my second protest ever. I’ve always believed in playing by the rules and respecting the game. I went into the hearing and told the truth. But the protest was upheld. With only three races sailed, there was no throw-out, which meant the penalty changed the standings. I lost the Youth Worlds spot, and it went to the sailor who had protested me.

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How That Felt

I was heartbroken. Not because I lost to someone who sailed better, but because I didn’t lose on the water. I lost in a protest room, over something that didn’t happen. That’s a very different feeling. I’ve always believed sailing is about honesty, respect, and competing hard but fairly. What happened didn’t feel fair.

“Winning through a protest may count on the score sheet, but it doesn’t necessarily earn respect.”

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What Could Change

In sports like water polo or soccer, players can’t make up stories and change the result of a game. There are referees right there, watching everything, and what happens on the field decides the outcome. Sailing is different, and I get why. The racecourse is huge, and you can’t keep your eyes on everything. But because of that, situations can sometimes come down to people’s words instead of facts. That’s what happened to me.

I started thinking about ways to make that better. We already have automated mark bots on the course, so why not add cameras to them? With the technology we have now, it wouldn’t be that hard. It wouldn’t replace protest committees, but it would give real evidence when there’s a dispute. It would make things fairer and cut down on actual fouls, which often go unchallenged.

“A simple camera could turn a ‘my word vs. yours’ situation into clear, fair evidence.”

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Why I’m Sharing This

Again, I want to thank our governing body and host club for the event. Many volunteers worked tirelessly to do their best, create an enjoyable environment for the competitors, and select the best representatives for the USA. So, I’m not writing this to complain or point fingers. I’m doing it out of respect and appreciation for our sport, with the courage to critique. I hope my critique will not overshadow my attitude of gratitude.

I sailed my best, and I’m proud of that. I’m sharing this because I believe moments like this are opportunities for the sport to become fairer. Protests are part of sailing, but we should make sure they’re used in the spirit of fairness, not as a way to change outcomes after the racing is done.

This regatta has made me stronger and more determined. I’ll be back, and I’ll keep racing with honesty and respect, because in the end, that’s what really matters.

Congratulations to Arabella Duer for a well-deserved first place overall. (Arabella is over the U19 limit and ineligible to attend the Youth Worlds, which is why the spot for qualification to the Youth Worlds went to the top 19-and-under sailor. That was originally my position before the protest)

A Father’s Perspective

On the flight home that night, Paloma and I talked about everything that had happened. She was disappointed, of course, anyone would be, but what struck me most was how quickly her focus turned from what she’d lost to what could be fixed. She kept saying how unfair it felt that something like this could decide a Youth Worlds berth. If this protest had come in the middle of the regatta, it likely would have been a non-issue, not only because she didn’t hit the mark, but because it wouldn’t have determined who advanced. The timing made all the difference.

Some sailors could have been witnesses to support her, but chose not to out of loyalty to the protestor, and others who witnessed against Paloma out of apparent jealousy. That was hard for her to process. Sailing is the only sport I know where the second and third place finishers can file a complaint about a rule infraction over an hour after the event and succeed in knocking out the leader, and their motives are apparently not considered. As happened in this situation, an opaque process compromised due process^[1] because exculpatory evidence from a favorable witness was improperly blocked by the plaintiff, a female ILCA6 U19 sailor who ended up protesting her way into first. That shrinks the sport and encourages bad actors. In a rush to nominate a competitor for the world event, our U.S. governing body curtailed the appeals process, shortening a key window of time to file a dispute from 7 days to 24 hours.

Still, even in that moment, Paloma wasn’t focused on blame. She was thinking about how to make the sport better, how to make sure no one else has a victory taken away in the same way. Some good entrepreneurial ideas came out of that. Watching how Paloma handled this with grace, honesty, and resilience made me prouder than any victory ever could. See also “A Father’s Perspective and An Athlete’s Duty: Gratitude and the Quest for Integrity”

Michael Arrigo

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^[1] A Section 1983 claim involves deprivation of a federal right (e.g. for example, due process), and a violation “under color of state law” where an entity acted as the authority but did not have it, e.g., making rules such as curtailing the time to appeal from seven days to 24 hours, which curtails due process. Reasonableness test: for example, in Florida, and in federal court, you generally have 30 days to file a notice of appeal after a lower court’s final judgment or order is entered; sometimes this is shortened to 14 days. In arbitration, there may only be narrow grounds for appeal, but generally, it is possible, if it is discovered, for example, that the process is tainted by one party’s efforts to successfully withhold exculpatory evidence. Yet, the time to appeal an arbitration ruling under federal law is generally three months to file a motion to vacate or modify under the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA).