One Race and Lots of Waiting on Sail for Gold Day Four

It was a trying day in Weymouth as the wind slowly built to in strength until racing was simply not feasible. The professional race committee here had us on course at 1000, one hour earlier than planned to try to beat the wind. We only did one race, though, as we had to share the harbor course with the RS:X men and women and the Finns.

We were slightly off the pace in our race, probably set up for a bit more wind than there was in reality. We also missed a shift at the end of the first beat. From there, passing lanes in gold fleet were few and far between. We ended up 14^th in the race. We are currently four points out of the Medal Race. The forecast for tomorrow is similar to today, though there is a chance for the breeze to ease off by the late afternoon. We can only hope we will have a chance to get back on the water to fight our way in to the top ten before Saturday.

Ready and Waiting… photo credit Will Ricketson/US Sailing

This regatta has been a good learning experience for us. The biggest lesson is how not to beat ourselves. Today’s race was the first one that we did not have some of the best boat speed on the course. We had great starts in every race. The only reason we are not in the top five at this point is that we made relatively simple mistakes. We know we have it in us to limit those mistakes, and that is what we will focus on between now and the Olympics, now a mere 50 days away.

Stay tuned for the final updates from Weymouth as we complete racing here at Sail for Gold. Full results can be found here. We will have the trackers for tomorrow racing, which will start at 1200 local time (700 ET) at the earliest. Live tracking can be viewed here.

Thanks to US Sailing Team Sperry Top-Sider, especially title sponsor Sperry Top-Sider and Gold Partners Atlantis WeatherGear and Rolex. Also a big thanks to all of our supporters.

Erik

Storck Moore Sailing

Some Costly Mistakes; Looking to Gold Fleet Racing Tomorrow…

A few very costly mistakes derailed our movement up the leader board we began   yesterday. It was shifty, puffy, and blowing about 12-17 knots. We ended the day with a 12-6-10 after making at least one crucial misstep in each race. This was extremely frustrating, and we know we have to do better to live up to our potential and make it on to the podium in August.

In each race we got off the starting line well near the boat end and got hooked into the first shift. In the first race, we capsized on our first tack due to a miscue in the middle of the boat. We fought back hard in that race to get 12^th. The next two races, we rounded the weather mark in the top 7, which is good enough for us to move up on the shifty, puffy 3-lap windward leeward course we were racing on in Portland Harbor. We were in 3^rd in the second race at the final windward mark, only to lose one boat on the set and another two at the finish. In the final race, I made a late audible at the first spinnaker hoist to a gybe set. It was an unnecessarily aggressive move, and we paid for it. Again, we fought back to a 10^th.

These kinds of mistakes are not going to win us a medal at the Olympics. We know that. We only have to go out and sail the way we know we can, every day. It sounds simple, and it is in a way. The Olympics will be all about not taking ourselves out of the regatta with the kind of mistakes we had today. Of course, this regatta is not over now, nor will the Olympics be if we do make some bad mistakes. We need to remain committed to the end, and we will practice that here.

We are in 11^th overall now in the Sail for Gold Regatta. Results and live updates can be found on the regatta website here. Gold fleet racing begins tomorrow.

Thanks to US Sailing Team Sperry Top-Sider, especially title sponsor Sperry Top-Sider and Gold Partners Atlantis WeatherGear and Rolex. Also a big thanks to all of our supporters for being behind us ever since the beginning.

Erik

Storck Moore Sailing

Great Day in Weymouth! Moved up to Third!

We had some proper British weather today (as the locals say). It was cold, raining, and windy, and we loved it! We put up a 2-3-1 to win the day and vault up the standings to 3^rd overall. Our starts were good, we had awesome boat speed, and we kept our boat handling clean.

We were the second start of the day, which we were happy about after hitting the ramp at 8:30 PM on day one of racing. We had a decent day of racing yesterday, but we gave away some points at key points. We will chalk it up to rust. There was none of that today, and we continued to get off the starting line well. Of course, everything is easier with a little speed. We certainly had that, and we put it to good use.

Tomorrow is a new day, and we will look to build on today’s successes of sailing clean and fast. It is supposed to be windy again, which will be to our benefit.

Stay tuned for lots more from Weymouth at the Sail for Gold Regatta. Results and live updates can be found on the regatta website here.

Thanks to US Sailing Team Sperry Top-Sider, especially title sponsor Sperry Top-Sider and Gold Partners Atlantis WeatherGear and Rolex. Also a big thanks to all of our supporters for being behind us ever since the beginning.

Erik

Storck Moore Sailing

Team Retreat and Back to Weymouth!

We’re in the final stages of preparation for the Olympics, and every little piece is coming together. Of course, we are deciding on our equipment, making sure we are in tip-top shape, and we have confidence in our knowledge of the venue. Another attribute that the team leaders have put an emphasis on is team unity, across the entire US Sailing Team Sperry Top-Sider, as opposed to only within our boats. With that in mind, we made a retreat to Lanzarote, Spain in the Canary Islands for some together time with all the sailors and coaches who will make up the US Olympic Sailing Team.

Our team retreat is impossible to summarize in this format, and the benefits of it will certainly be felt through the Olympics. We had a little downtime, did some fun team-building exercises, and learned a lot of great things about one another. We will be living together for near on a month during the Olympics, and knowing when to leave a teammate alone is crucial. We also did a version of the “Amazing Race” complete with a 50-kilometer bike ride, hitchhiking, flamenco dancing, and a camel ride! It was quite the experience, and one that taught us to be ready for anything.

Some light-hearted team time in Lanzarote…

Since traveling back to Weymouth as a team, we’ve had a great week of training. We had not been in the boat for a few weeks, but we could hardly tell. Everything has become second nature at this point. It’s a great feeling. The other major positive that came out of the week is that Trevor’s shoulder is in great shape for sailing. We put five days on him this week, and we had no issues. He has continued to get full-time care from our the US Sailing Team Sperry Top-Sider PET team, and we will make sure he’s in tip-top shape for the only regatta that counts this year.

Flying the Flag in Weymouth!

The Sail for Gold Regatta begins on Monday. We’re in a great frame of mind as a team going into our final prep event before the Games. Racing goes from Monday to Friday with a Medal Race on Saturday.

Thanks to US Sailing Team Sperry Top-Sider, especially title sponsor Sperry Top-Sider and Gold Partners Atlantis WeatherGear and Rolex. Also, thanks to all of our supporters who have put us as close to our goal as we can say we are today!

Erik

Storck Moore Sailing

Positive Day in Hyeres, and Some Other News

It’s been a crazy week in Hyeres, as shown by our posts thus far. We put up two great races (1,7) today in some lighter conditions and in silver fleet. We did not sail the third and fourth races. Trevor has been dealing with a shoulder injury since last September, and it has flared up a bit in the past month or so. We are taking the necessary steps now to make certain that he will be in top shape for the Olympics.

Today, that meant not going back out after being sent in to race in two more races in more wind. Tomorrow Trevor will be flying home to get treatment. We are confident that we have laid out a solid plan to address his issue, and we will come out ready to race for Sail for Gold in June and again for the Olympics. As we’ve said all spring, there is only one regatta this year. It’s the Olympics. We will do everything in our power to be ready for that.

My schedule is still in the works. I may still get to do the Worlds to get some tiller time and keep my mind fresh with racing scenarios. More on that will come tomorrow.

Finally, the other big news that we are very happy to share is that our own sponsor, Sperry Top-Sider has signed on as the title sponsor of the US Sailing Team. We were happy to notch a race win in our first race as US Sailing Team Sperry Top-Sider athletes today! This is a brilliant partnership, and we are thrilled to be a part of it.

Thanks to US Sailing Team Sperry Top-Sider, especially title sponsor Sperry Top-Sider and Gold Partners Atlantis WeatherGear and Rolex. Also, thanks to all of our supporters.

Erik

Storck Moore Sailing

A Hiccup Along the Way

For the first time in a long time, we are going into silver fleet at a World Cup event. Obviously, this is not where we want to be. We are not concerned for the long term, though, as we are confident we can continue to learn from our mistakes and improve. Where we are now does not take away where we have been and where we know we can be in three months.

Today was another short day here in Hyeres. The race committee did send the first fleet to the water for a 9 AM start, and we went shortly thereafter for one race. We made it to the top mark in the top eight or so, but we had a miscue on the bearaway and capsized. We got the boat up and sailed cleanly for almost the remainder of the race, only to meet an enormously steep wave about 20 boat lengths to the finish. In the end, we drifted across the line in 17^th.

We will make the most of these next two days of racing and then look to the World Championship in Zadar, Croatia to get back to form.

Full results can be seen here.

Thanks to all of our supporters and sponsors. Thanks to the US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics especially our title sponsor AlphaGraphics and Gold Partners Atlantis and Rolex. Thanks also to Sperry Top-Sider for their sponsorship and support.

Erik

Storck Moore Sailing

Tough Day Two in Hyeres

The breeze was lighter than yesterday, and lighter than forecast. It generally died throughout the day, and we were out of phase from the start. We put up a 13-17-19 in tricky sailing conditions, and we made some mistakes that we know we should not at this point.

Our downwind legs were very good, as we passed boats on nearly every one. Upwind, however, we struggled with fleet positioning, and we did not get off the starting line as well as we could have. Overall, it will be on to the next day as we continue to iron out all the details.

Tomorrow’s start has been pushed up a whole two hours to 9 AM local time. The race committee is probably expecting another building windy day. Hopefully we can get plenty of races in and move into gold fleet. We sit in 39^th right now, but a few solid scores could certainly put us in contention to continue to play with the best.

Thanks to all of our supporters and sponsors. Thanks to the US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics especially our title sponsor AlphaGraphics and Gold Partners Atlantis and Rolex. Thanks also to Sperry Top-Sider for their sponsorship and support.

Erik

Storck Moore Sailing

Wild Day One in Hyeres

It was a wild and windy day one here in Hyeres, France at the French Olympic Sailing Week. We went to the water on time for our 11 AM start in a quickly building Mistral breeze, which is the local windy offshore breeze here in the French Mediterranean. It was up to 17 to 24 knots by the time we were halfway up the first beat, and the chop was steep!

Racing in those conditions in a 49er is on the edge, especially when the chop is as short and steep as it was. Upwind is fine, as long as the boat is set up for it, but downwind is akin to riding a bucking bronco. We were thrown off a few times. While we know we can do better with our boat handling than we did today, we are not reading into today’s difficulties too much. Exactly 11 of 28 boats finished the race within the time limit. Almost every boat capsized at least once. These are not excuses, merely putting things into perspective. We are carrying a DNF now, and we will look to do better tomorrow.

The Mistral is forecast to remain for another day or two, so we may have a chance to redeem ourselves in these challenging conditions. Our speed was good, so that is a start.

Stay tuned for lots more from Hyeres!

Thanks to all of our supporters and sponsors. Thanks to the US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics especially our title sponsor AlphaGraphics and Gold Partners Atlantis and Rolex. Thanks also to Sperry Top-Sider for their sponsorship and support.

Erik

Storck Moore Sailing

Lessons Learned in Palma; On to the Next One

Numerous people unfamiliar with Olympic Sailing have asked us, “now that you’ve qualified for the Games, what are you going to do?” The stock answer is “the same thing we’ve been doing the past four years, namely training and competing in more regattas.” As our High Performance Director of the US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics, Kenneth Andreasen, has told us multiple times, there is only one regatta this year; the Olympics. The Princess Sofia Trophy here in Palma was a success because we got back in the boat and learned some valuable lessons in the process.

We finished the event here in 14^th overall. Of course, that is not where we would like to be. One of the most important things for us to do before the Olympics is to get as much medal race experience as possible. We did not accomplish that here. We still have three good regattas before the Opening Ceremonies, and we will make the most of each one.

Downwind Action in Palma, Dave Hughes photo

French Olympic Sailing Week is in two weeks. We will take a short trip home to recharge the batteries before going to Hyeres to compete. From there we will go straight to Zadar, Croatia for our World Championship. It will be a fast spring for sure!

Final results from the Princess Sofia Trophy can be seen here.

Thanks to all of our supporters and sponsors. Thanks to the US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics especially our title sponsor AlphaGraphics and Gold Partners Atlantis and Rolex. Thanks also to Sperry Top-Sider for their sponsorship and support.

Erik

Storck Moore Sailing

Redemption Day in Palma

We had to execute, and we did. It feels great to have had our backs against the wall and deliver three solid races. We scored a 9-2-4, moving us back up to 10^th place and comfortably into gold fleet.

Today was especially rewarding because it was very similar to yesterday in a number of ways. The ability to hold a lane on starboard off the starting line was paramount. What we had such difficulty doing yesterday we were able to accomplish with much better efficiency today. In the first start, we found ourselves tacking out and chasing the left pressure at the top, and it was everything we could do to get a top-ten finish that race. The next two races, though, we executed beautifully. We started near the boat, held our lane to the left side, and led the fleet back towards the top. It was just as we planned.

Tomorrow begins gold-fleet racing. It is a competitive event, and we are excited to line up against only the best in the world again. The carnage that made up so many starts and mark roundings the past three days should settle down. The points are close, so anything is possible at this point. We will simply try to execute the way we did today and make the most of some good racing.

Full results can be found here. Stay tuned for three more days of great racing here in Palma!

Thanks to all of our supporters and sponsors. Thanks to the US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics especially our title sponsor AlphaGraphics and Gold Partners Atlantis and Rolex. Thanks also to Sperry Top-Sider for their sponsorship and support.

Erik

Storck Moore Sailing