The deadline for our Sailing Goals writing project was 14 June 2008.
Yes, 2008. 415 days ago.
So I was somewhat surprised to receive today, via email, a late entry for the project. It's from Tanzsleger, the dancing sailor, who has been lurking and commenting here for a while. He has his own blog now, Adrift and Anchored, and has written about his Goals and his Bid for the next America's Cup.
Almost three years ago I wrote a post Commitment Questions contrasting the differences between training to run a marathon and training to achieve a certain goal in a major sailing regatta. There was some very interesting feedback in the comments, including one long comment from a guy named Ari who talked about his approach...
At the age of 38 I decided to start racing the Lasers. I used to race 'Windsurfing' when One design classes were still around, until I was 23 years old. My goal was clear, practice enough to be a contender at the age of 45 for the Masters worlds.
Like many others I was searching for the way. Couldn't find it.
With the support of my wife we hired an elite coach, bought 15 Lasers, a coach boat and opened the Laser Training Center. Actually as owners of a windsurfing club in Cabarete, Dominican Republic since 1988, the "jump" was not too deep.
Some of the best Laser Open competitors trained here with us in the past 3 years, and more have booked for 2007. Our coach is able to build the right program for every sailor, after a few days of sailing coaching in Cabarete.
Masters have to be fully committed, and be able to match Open sailors in some conditions for a good part of the course. I will be 45 for the next Masters worlds. Will I be ready? Only if I race regularly in big fleets and traveling is quite an obstacle for me at the moment.
I had the pleasure of attending Ari Barshi's Laser Training Center in the Dominican Republic in 2007 and 2008 and wrote about it extensively here. See Cabarete. I've also raced against Ari in various regattas in the US as he pursued his plan to gain big fleet racing experience as well as training in his own home waters. He was going well in last year's Buzzard's Bay Regatta until his mast broke...
Photo stolen shamelessly from Judith Krimski's Facebook Page (I'm sure Judith is not laughing at Ari hauling his disabled Laser up the beach behind her.)
So I was delighted to see that, this weekend, all of Ari's hard work paid off as he topped the Laser fleet at the Hyannis Regatta, ahead of some other very distinguished Laser Masters sailors.
Well done sir! And good luck in the Masters Worlds later this month.
Congratulations to Anna Tunnicliffe (USA) for winning the bronze medal at the Laser Radial World Championships in Japan this last week. You can read Anna's day-by-day accounts of racing in the Worlds at annatunnicliffe.com.
So what do the top US sailors eat when they are racing or training abroad? I wonder if they talk about food on their blogs? First up we have Laser Olympic hopeful, Clay Johnson, who has been training hard for the upcoming Lasers World in Nova Scotia. He was sailing there in June when he told us...
We had a two hour meeting with a Canadian Nutritionist where she made us all dinner and talked about what we should be eating during regattas, etc. The dinner was great and then we walked through a grocery store where she pointed out the right things to get while shopping. It was really delicious and informative.
Seems like Clay is taking this Olympic campaign business awfully seriously. He's not even sharing the secret go-faster nutritional advice that he received.
Anna Tunnicliffe, gold medal winner in Laser Radials in the 2008 Olympics, is in Japan for the Women's Radial Worlds and told us on Thursday that she has been enjoying "a fantastic rice dish. It comes in a sizzling hot bowl, rice on the bottom and on top are raw vegetables, raw meat, and a raw egg. The idea is for you to stir it up and cook it in front of you." Hmmm. Sounds a bit risky to me to eat on the night before racing in a major regatta. Anyway it seems to be working for her as she is hanging in there with the regatta leaders.
And finally Andrew Campbell, the 2008 US Laser Olympian, who has switched from Lasers to Stars, is currently in Sweden for the Star Worlds. According to Friday's blog post he is eating (what else?) Swedish meatballs, which apparently in Sweden are called "meatballs". He says it's a bit like being in this Muppets skit...
Gold fleet start in the Laser Radial Women's Worlds currently being sailed in Japan.
What's that you say?You can't see the girls?
Ah, but you know they are female sailors because of those little red diamonds on their sails. Thank the Laser Class for that little visual aid which is such a boon for folk who tend to get confused about the difference between boys and girls.
Bender, in a comment to my earlier post I Love Sweden, gave an excellent definition of what the role of on-the-water coaches should be doing during regattas...
It is about observing the skills of the sailor so as to provide a future training direction. This is the true role of the coach.
Jagarth explained why and where they got the idea...
What I observed wasn't an occasional action, it was repeated 40, 50, 60 times in a row with an empty bailer, and it induced noticeable leech popping in around 8 - 10 knots of air - conditions where bailing wasn't necessary, and conditions where such actions clearly had an effect on boat speed and pointing. Those doing it were pointing higher and moving steadily to windward of those who weren't. What do you think? Is that cheating or not? I asked a couple of coaches about it afterwards and they acknowledged that they were teaching their kids to flaunt the rules whenever the judges weren't looking at them.
There are times when I despair for the future of the sport I love.
Photo shows Caleb Zimmerman (definitely not an old fart) sailing to victory in the Challenger Division in the recent Force Five North Americans held at Hunterdon SC in New Jersey. Photo by Anne Freeman.
Photo stolen shamelessly from Judith Krimski's Facebook Page
First up we have Laser Olympic hopeful, Clay Johnson, who has been training hard for the upcoming Lasers World in Nova Scotia. He was sailing there in June when he told us...
Anna Tunnicliffe, gold medal winner in Laser Radials in the 2008 Olympics, is in Japan for the Women's Radial Worlds and told us on Thursday that she has been enjoying "a fantastic rice dish. It comes in a sizzling hot bowl, rice on the bottom and on top are raw vegetables, raw meat, and a raw egg. The idea is for you to stir it up and cook it in front of you." Hmmm. Sounds a bit risky to me to eat on the night before racing in a major regatta. Anyway it seems to be working for her as she is hanging in there with the regatta leaders.
