Amazing Training and Japan Bound!

August 3^rd, 2019

The last update we gave was the conclusion of Kiel Week and we were just about to get into our July training block!

We both flew home July 1st for a little break and celebrated a wonderful Fourth of July at home with family and friends. Starting July 6th we were back at it in San Francisco training in the big breeze! This time we were accompanied by the Canadian team Ali Ten Hoven and Mariah Millen. They flew down from Canada to train with us and it was great to have another boat out on the water! Along with Team Canada we had Lucy Wilmot and Nate Housberg sailing against us as well. It was great to be able to sail against 2 other boats and push each other in the big breeze!

We sailed together for three days and then Anna was asked to help coach the 2019 U.S. Junior Women’s Singlehanded Championships, also know as the Leiter Cup. This included a two day clinic and three days of Championship racing in two fleets, the 4.7 and the Laser Radial. The Leiter Cup was held out of Richmond Yacht club this year, so it was perfect for Anna because we had been doing all our San Francisco training out the same yacht club. (Shout out to Richmond Yacht Club for hosting the event and also hosting us for our training blocks in San Fran!).

After the Leiter Cup ended, we were right back at it with more training in 20-25 knot conditions for the next four days. The main focus for this specific training block was speed and heavy air boat handling. Lucy and Nate have done a wonderful job dialing in the speed in the big breeze and it was awesome to have them out there with us because they are super fast! It was really helpful to be able to compare sail set ups and to learn how to get faster in the breezy conditions. We also focused on perfecting gybes in 25 knots and I can say that after solid practice of doing gybes in 25+ knots we really have it down!

This brings us to July 17th which was our last day of San Francisco training and from there we had 4 days off where Anna went home and I went to Newport, RI to enjoy some time with my college roommates, the Toppas! Before leaving for the break, we packed up both boats into Lucy’s huge trailer and we agreed to do a 5 day camp in Santa Barbara, California. The hometown of Willie Mcbride!

We decided to change locations and transition from heavy air practice to doing some practice in lighter conditions. It was refreshing to finally have lighter breeze, warmer weather, and different scenery. It was really hard to complain about the conditions in Santa Barbara as it was a perfect 8-10 knot condition in the morning with a slow sea breeze build to 10-14 knots in the afternoon. Although we were really looking for lighter conditions more in the 5-8 knot range, it was still so fun to rip around in mild conditions. Most mornings we worked on straight line speed with Lucy and Nate when it was lighter. We also sailed in some swell and random ocean chop that required a lot of weight movement and sail trim to perfect. In the afternoons we did short course racing which really got the heart rate pumping.

We just want to say a huge thank you to the Toole Family who hosted Anna and I and held a wonderful team dinner the first night, thank you to Kelly Jane who hosted Lucy, thank you to the Seaward Family who hosted Nate and holding a team dinner the second night and thank you to Willie’s mom, Karen for having all of us over for dinner the fourth night of our five day training block. Also thank you to George who got all of us free week membership passes to the Santa Barbara Athletic Club: Swell so we could do our Bradletes work out every morning! (Click on Bradletes if you want to find out more about our fitness programing done by Anna!)

After our last day of training on July 26th, we packed the boats back up in Lucy’s trailer and now are slowly making our way down the coast to San Diego! Our next training block is August 7th-10th in Coronado, California where I live! We hopefully will get more of the light air conditions we are looking for.

Right now we have been on a break and for an important reason! Anna will be participating in her 7th CrossFit Games August 1-3! She will be participating in the Master Division (Women’s 35-39). You can follow her results here! We are all rooting for you Anna!!

Our next stop on the regatta circuit will be the 2019 Sailing World Series Enoshima at the end of this month! This event is technically our first trials event to qualify for the 2020 Olympics, however we are most excited to go because it will be the first time going to Enoshima where the actual Olympics will be held. We will be able to test out the venue and sail on the Olympic waters! We are looking forward to it!