Welcome to 49er Sailing

Bristol, RI - June 2021

We started our first training block as a pair shortly after Casey graduated in May of 2021. This was an Olympic Development Program (ODP) training camp hosted by Roger Williams for two weeks in June 2021. Anna Tunnicliffe (Beijing 2008 Gold Medal), David Liebenberg, and Charlie McKee (2x Olympic Bronze medalist) were among the great coaches there supporting us. It was quick to see that we had a lot to learn. We needed to improve our communication skills, technique, and physical strength - three areas which are essential for success in the 49er fleet.

After 14 days of sailing with good breeze and strong competition from our American and Canadian neighbors, we felt the fatigue of sailing full time. Lower back struggles, blisters, and sunburn, were all catching up and gnawing away at our endurance as a team. We were hoping for a trial by fire and that’s what we got.

We gained a better understanding of what was needed to improve each day; we learned how to prepare and rig our boat at a faster clip, we learned to manage days off, and we learned to pair gym workouts with the kind of training and racing we wanted to achieve for the week. We improved our communication and created a framework to achieve our goals with two adjustments: narrowing our vocabulary, and focusing on the same maneuvers until we made real progress.

Most importantly, we gained the necessary skill set to receive feedback. We took on the responsibility of campaigning for Paris knowing we needed a rapid pace of improvement, and we ended our first camp knowing we had created a baseline to do just that. Our strong start materialized with an invitation from head U.S 49er Coach, Mark Asquith, to join the team for a two week training block in Long Island in August. We finished the camp with new friends and a great summer to look forward to.