News

Prior to the French Olympic Week regatta in Hyeres, France I was sailing the best I have sailed all season.  I participated in a training camp with the polish team and I was continuing to improve in light air. Additionally, my heavy air sailing was starting to click.  As the event neared I found myself becoming increasingly tired and my day-to-day recovery seemed to be slowing down.  I understood that these were signs of overtraining, so I trained cautiously the few days leading up to the event.   The event, similar to ever...

Day three (20 knots, 8-10 foot waves):   The forecast for day three was a prefrontal 20-30 knot southwesterly and that is exactly what we got, in addition to 8-12 foot waves.  In the early morning the breeze was manageable and the Race Committee decided to send the Finns out to race.  However, as the Finns were sailing out, the breeze kicked up to about 25-35 knots.  The race committee made the right decision to send the Finns back to shore only after they experienced a handful of breakdowns.  We waited onshore until a...

The first two days of the Princess Sofia Regatta in the Bay of Palma saw similar conditions, 4-8 knots out of the southwest.  Going into the regatta I was feeling increasingly confident in these conditions, and throughout the first two days of racing, my light air sailing began to click for parts of the races.   Day One: The first race started off great.  I had a solid start and was able to get a clear lane all the way up the course in a 70-board fleet.   My upwind speed and pumping technique felt very good and I round...

I am pleased to announce the details of my first fundraising event of the season.  The event will be presented by The Loews Hotel, Paul’s Pasta, Connecticut College, Gill North America, in addition to the various donors listed below.   The fundraiser will take place March 6th 2010, 6-8pm in the Hall of Fame Room at Connecticut College’s Athletic Center.  The event will feature a raffle with exciting prizes including a weekend stay at the Loews Hotel on Miami Beach.  The Loews Hotel is one of the most prominent h...

After the Miami OCR and the North Americans I was able to isolate a few components of my game that I really needed to work on, light air technique and endurance.   Heading into February, this was what I wanted to devote a majority of my time on.  After three weeks of solid training, I feel like I am getting back to the level that I was at during the Olympic Trials in addition to seeing progress in light air.  I am looking forward to redeeming myself at the next few regattas.   I joined a gym called Fight Club Miami, it...

Windsurfer Bob Willis '09 begins his second Olympic campaign Windsurfer Bob Willis '09 hopes to qualify for the London 2012 Olympic Games. Photo by John Willis. Sophomores don’t often take a semester off from college, but most sophomores don’t have a shot to qualify for the Olympic Games either. Bob Willis ’09 did just that to spend 10 months campaigning in the RS:X sailboard class for the 2008 games in Qingdao, China. He narrowly missed out on qualifying and ended up second on the U.S. team. But Willis took many positives fr...

The conditions at the 2010 Rolex Miami OCR were uniform throughout the week.  It seemed as if each day was a perfect replica of the previous, 6-13 knots of breeze out of the North and Northeast.  As I noted in my previous post, these conditions are challenging for me.  That being said, this regatta illustrated what I need to work on in upcoming months before I travel to Europe for more important competitions.  Even though my results were disappointing on a paper, I do feel like I made significant steps in re-familiarizing m...

Difficult Conditions and Interesting Race Management Lead to a Frustrating Start at the RMOCR   Monday, the first day of the regatta, brought a sense of frustration amongst the RS:X sailors.  The morning greeted us with 15-20 knots of breeze; however, there was a legitimate chance of thunderstorms early on in the afternoon.  Understandably, the race committee postponed racing for the safety of all the competitors. Still though, we were scheduled to start at 11am and the storms were scheduled to pass through around 1:30 or 2:00.&...

  It's not often we get to go national, let alone international, here in our little hamlets by the Thames. But wouldn't it be a hoot if Bob Willis' sail bore the words of one of his favorite local haunts, say, "Muddy Waters Cafe, New London, CT" during the 2012 Summer Olympic Games? Could happen. First, though, Willis, who graduated from Connecticut College earlier this month, has to qualify for the London games as a windsurfer. OK. Lots of background needed here. A two-minutedrill version: Willis is training for his second Olympic campaig...

Welcome to the official site for my 2012 Olympic Gold Medal quest in the RS:X class. I just completed my last semester of school and am currently preparing for a lifelong dream: to win an Olympic Gold Medal. It has been a long time since I last competed on the professional level and I am looking forward to getting back on the water and experiencing the thrill of pure competition. My 2008 Olympic campaign was a success. I finished third at the 2008 Olympic Trials, winning four of the sixteen races. Additionally, I finished tenth at an ISAF ...