Tamarac sailor takes bronze medal in international competition
Living nearly 1,300 miles apart made for an unlikely pairing, but the two sailing enthusiasts couldn’t have been closer together in their determination to succeed during the recent Open 420 European Championships in Athens, Greece.
Tamarac’s Ciara Rodriguez-Horan and Emma Kaneti, from Larchmont, New York, represented the United States and returned home with bronze medals in the international sailing competition.
The duo placed third out of 22 nations and 57 boats. Not bad for two teenage girls who only started competing as a unit a year ago.
“It was a great experience,” said the 17-year-old Rodriguez-Horan, a senior at Taravella High School in Coral Springs and the captain for both the volleyball and water polo teams. “We competed against people [who were older], so it was nice beating people who were more experienced. We both needed someone to sail with so the coaches were able to get me and Emma together.”
Rodriguez-Horan began sailing at age 6, following in her dad’s footsteps. She started out at the Lauderdale Yacht Club steering a small, single-handed sailing dinghy known as an Optimist boat. These types of vessels are intended for use by children up to the age of 15.
“He did the same thing I did in sailing, traveling around the world and almost made it to the Olympics,” Rodriguez-Horan said. “I started to do really well in my freshman year of high school. That — Ciara Rodriguez-Horan, a senior at Taravella High School and captain for water polo and diving teams was when I went to Japan for my first international regatta.”
She enjoyed the experience of traveling abroad.
“It wasn’t overwhelming at all,” Rodriguez-Horan said. “I didn’t feel out of place or pressured. I fit in and there were a lot of different people from different countries.”
Because she didn’t have a steady sailing partner, Rodriguez-Horan didn’t compete internationally in her sophomore year but in her junior year she competed with Miami’s Clay Snyder. They finished 12th out of 100 boats in the Orange Bowl International Regatta.
Shortly after that competition, Rodriguez-Horan started sailing with Kaneti. They placed 10th from a field of 40 boats in their first event together and then, after two weeks of practice, they picked up the bronze medals in the Mid-Winter Championships in Miami.
The next stop for the sailing teens was Corpus Christi, Texas, where they finished in seventh place from among 40 boats in the U.S. Youth Sailing Championships. They also took 27th place out of 110 boats in the Junior European Championships competition in Fraglia Della Vela Riva, Italy.
The two set up a practice schedule in which Kaneti would fly to Miami and then Rodriguez-Horan would fly to New York on various weekends.
Rodriguez-Horan, who began sailing 420s at age 12, is currently ranked No. 11 in her class out of just under 800 students.
She said there is nothing like being out on the water.
“It is very calming,” Rodriguez-Horan said. “It is kind of like a stress reliever.”
She added that sailing requires concentration and commitment.
“When you start at the park where the regatta is held, you shut out everything that is going on,” Rodriguez-Horan said. “When you are on the water it is intensified…if you are not focused and aware of what you are doing and where you are, you won’t perform.
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