News

We’ve made it to Helsinki for the 2011 ISAF Open European Championships. Much like the Open Worlds set for this December in Perth, Australia, most the Olympic Classes will be competing their European Championships here over two and a half weeks. The 49er event begins tomorrow, Friday, and runs through next Wednesday, July 13. There are some interesting and different aspects to racing here in Finland. For starters, it is much warmer than we anticipated. It is supposed to get up to 26C today, which is 78F! It is sunny most the time, and th...

Day two of gold fleet racing was another long day, with four races sailed in a building southwesterly breeze. It was immensely shifty and puffy, and we never quite got a handle on it. We scored a 24-22-17-17 in the final four races of the series, which dropped us three places in the standings to seventeenth. It is not exactly the outcome we had hoped for, but we did accomplish our goal of being the top American, with 18 points to spare going into part two of the Trials in Perth in December. Friday was one of those days for which we would like ...

We came out of the gates strong into the gold fleet with a bullet in race one. The breeze was solid, at about 13-20 knots from the Southwest. We sailed two races in the morning, went ashore for lunch while silver sailed three races, and went back to the water for two more races in the afternoon. It was certainly a long, tiring day. Our final score line was 1-13-13-14, and we now sit in 14th overall. While the low teens are not exactly what we are looking for, they could have been far worse. The greatest lesson from today was that the race is n...

We didn’t sail a single race today, but we moved up in the standings, qualified for gold fleet, and secured the sole US berth to the Pre-Olympics to be held in Weymouth in just under two months. All that, and we got to go for a short sail as well. It was very windy in Weymouth today, with steady 25 knots and higher gusts. The blue fleet from yesterday that was unable to finish their three scheduled races went to the harbor for a race at 10 AM this morning. They were able to get that in, and so our 4th place from yesterday’s final r...

The forecast for day two was much better, and Weymouth delivered. We went afloat for our 11:00 AM start in a 12-14 knot SW frontal breeze. With some weather clearing out of the area, the wind picked up to about 18 knots by the end of our three races. We posted a 13-19-4, and without the 4th place counting as of yet, we now sit in 20th overall. We had good starts today, and we sailed well on the first part of the first leg of each of the three races. However, we had some difficulty closing out the beat in each of the first two races. We were ge...

It’s late, and we’re spent after a long and challenging day. We managed an 11-11-8, which puts us in 16th overall. That is right where we want to be at this stage of the regatta, especially having competed well in conditions that had given us trouble in recent past. We began with a postponement ashore. By 10:45 AM, though, we were became the sole fleet to be sent afloat. There was a light, shifty breeze on our course that was good enough to get two races in. With our conservative approach in mind, we managed to put two 11th place f...

We’ve planned, trained, prepared, flown, driven, and sailed countless hours over the past two and a half years in anticipation of this day. Now it is here. The first half of the winner take all US Olympic Team Trials begins on Monday. I know I’ve said it before, but I couldn’t be more certain of it; we are ready to punch our ticket to the 2012 Olympics. The past few days here in Weymouth have been all about the final preparations. We went on the water two days purely to feel comfortable in the boat. They were easy, “fee...

We are back home again. We just had an enormously productive training session in Weymouth as we gear up for the Sail for Gold Regatta in just a few weeks. Those who have been following will know that this is the first regatta in the new two-part US Trials system. It will count for 50%, and the Worlds in Perth in December will count for the second 50%. We are ready. The past week was spent doing our homework on the site. We are convinced that we came to some solid conclusions. Like any sailing venue, there are regularities and trends associated...

Sometimes it takes more than a few hours to assess and review a competition. That was the case with the French Olympic Sailing Week in Hyeres this year. Our final day of racing was last Friday. We quickly disbanded to move the gear to the next stop, Weymouth, England, and to travel home for a much needed break following our successful month long trip to Europe. We have now had time to wind down, debrief, and begin to look ahead. French Olympic Sailing Week was a rollercoaster ride for us. After day one we were in the lead of the incredibly com...

It was another long light air day for the first finals series races here at the French Olympic Sailing Week in Hyeres. We put together three fair races, posting an 8-15-8. Generally anything in the top ten in gold fleet racing is considered solid. We were very happy with our speed, our starts, and our ability to climb back when we were behind. Of course, we did still leave points on the board that we should have had. We lost four boats on the final downwind leg of the second race and three boats on the final downwind leg of the final race. Thi...