News

This past week I arrived home from a short, but very effective training camp in Palermo, Italy – followed by the French World Cup event in Hyeres, France.  The primary purpose of the training camp was train in a warm, “non-event” venue for 10 days, focusing primarily on fitness and short course racing.  Training in a “non-event” venue is very important from time to time, as it allows me to refocus my training.  “Non-event” venues are free of the distractions and stresses of the 20 &ndash...

Just this past week I came home from the 2012 World Championships in Cadiz, Spain.  Cadiz, situated in the Andalucían region of southwestern Spain, boasts a vibrant culture and offers fantastic sailing in the Bay of Cadiz.  The sailing venue, however, was across the bay from Cadiz in El Puerto de Santa Maria.  Albeit, Puerto de Santa Maria did not quite have the same amount of lively energy as Cadiz – it was still a unique spot and very rich in history.  As many of you may know, El Puerto de Santa Maria is wher...

February’s training schedule was slightly different than my typical training blocks, it included heavy gym training.  I finished up the winter season in Miami on February 8th and took a few days off.   Following the short break I shipped off to the New York Yacht Club in Manhattan for the US Olympic Sailing Team fundraiser.  Immediately following the NYC trip, I flew out to Colorado Springs for 2 weeks of dry land training at the US Olympic Team Training Center. The fundraiser was a huge success.  More than 250 p...

Winning the Olympic trials was a massive pressure release.  However, there is a new and unique pressure slowly manifesting itself into my training – the notion that I will be representing 200 million Americans at the 2012 Olympic Games.  As my dad said, “congratulations, now you’re the monkey!” After the World Championships in Perth, I took three weeks off and enjoyed the time with my friends and family.  I worked closely with my coach and structured a training plan for the Olympic year that we believed w...

 Upon arriving in Perth, I opened up a book that had been sitting on my parent’s bookshelf for a few years. I pulled out the old bookmark, which happened to be an Olympic sailing ticket from the 2004 Athens Olympics.  It was a good laugh and a positive sign.  My training program for the 2011 World Championships in Perth was nearly identical to the program I ran leading up to the Sail For Gold Regatta in June, Weymouth UK.  I did over train for the Weymouth event and tired quickly toward the end of that regatta.  H...

The Pan American Games was truly an unbelievable experience.   There were various moments throughout the event, where I would stop, look around, acknowledge my surroundings and think to myself what an amazing place to be and to compete.  I finished in 7th place.  It is not a great result, but I had some very strong races.  There were a few aspects that made the sailing challenging and sometimes frustrating.  For one, the racecourse was skewed for a majority of the racing.  A skewed course eliminates passing la...

The Pan American Games occur once every four years, one year before the Olympics.  The games include Olympic sports and non-Olympic sports and provide athletes a great way to tune up and for some sports, qualify for the Olympics. For aspiring Olympic sailors, this event does not count towards our Olympic selection.  The event thus far has been an incredible experience and I am extremely proud to be representing the USA in windsurfing here in Mexico.  Unlike traditional sailing regattas, there is much more activity and excitement ...

I have never competed in an Olympic Games before; however, the Olympic Test Event (OTE), was a close indication of what the games will be like next year: High pressure, more media and a very high concentration of the world’s best sailors. The regatta only consisted of 34 competitors; each competitor was the sole representative for their respective nation. The small field of the world’s best RS:X sailors made the fleet extremely unforgiving, but the racing, pressure and general ambiance was great practice as I continue to work towar...

The Weymouth and Portland area in Southwestern England is a most unique spot.  The area is a historical landmark, a popular spot for prisons and you can’t say the word “rabbit.”   The isle of Portland, situated just south of Weymouth was previously occupied by the Royal Air force and was a tactical location for many famous World War II battles. Portland harbor was a crucial embarkation point for the allied forces on the D – Day invasion.   The British Air Force occupied Portland harbor up until 1995 t...

I prepared with long hours of training and conditioning for this important event.  My coach and I defined success as soundly defeating the American competition for the Olympic selection process and at the same time sailing competitively against a fleet of the best 85 windsurfers in the world. The hard work paid off! At the end of the regatta, the next American was 14 positions behind.  In eight of the 10 races, I finished ahead of my principal competitor, generally far ahead. In addition my second goal was met.  Although I finis...