Author Archives: Nate

The World Championship Ends, the next 4 years begin

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Hello All!

Firstly, may I apologize for the lack of updates since day 1 of the Worlds in Zadar.  What with sailing the World Championships, finding a place to store our boat, arranging to ship the boat back to the US, figuring out the most effective way to fly home, and a wild storm in Croatia, life has been very hectic.  All this in more in the paragraphs that follow!

Worlds Overview

The Worlds was, in some ways, an enormous success for us.  Our finish of 4th in Bronze was respectable for first our time attending the event, and we had a few very good races (including a 5th in the qualifying rounds, very good stuff).  We also found our boat speed to be very good at times, and Thomas and I communicated quickly and effectively in the boat to make decisions and work together.  We improved our starts drastically over the course of the event, and our understanding of the dynamics of the fleet continue to improve.  However, this being our first Worlds we were not destined for greatness…yet.

It was also nice to see how competitive the 49er class really is.  This year every qualifying spot for the 2012 games was in Gold fleet (top 25), which is incredible.  The density of talent in the fleet is evidenced by the people who have succeeded in the past, a list that includes multiple AC45 and Volvo Ocean Race sailors.  It is a list we hope to be on in the not so distant future!

As a truly awesome cap to the event, the Medal Race was set a stones throw from the beach.  Watching the top ten 49er sailors duke it out close enough to hear them yelling was a thing to behold, especially because our friends from Bermuda, Jesse and Zander Kirkland were in the race (congrats on going to London boys!)  Check out the video below

49er Worlds Last Day

The experience of sailing in the Worlds will, most importantly, guide our training regimen and regatta schedule for the next year.  Having evaluated our strengths and weaknesses, we can now tailor our practices to make sure we make the best use of our time on the water.  Starts and boatspeed in tight quarters will be of the highest importance, both of which require 3 or more boats to practice effectively.  Hopefully by continuing our training with the Americans (Fred Strammer/Zach Brown and Ryan Pesch/Trevor Burd) we will be able to consistently have 3 boats on the water, making practices more fruitful than ever!

Farewell Croatia

I had decided before Worlds even began that it was going to be my last event for the trip.  My back had been bothering me for over a month at that point, and traveling around Europe while sailing 49ers was not going to help.  I had made arrangements to fly out of Zagreb, Croatia in order to avoid the 18 hour drive to Medemblik, Netherlands, and in order to make my flight we had to leave at about 3am the morning after the last day of racing.

3am came and we successfully picked up both boats and our trailer.  Zach had heard that there was going to be some wind on the drive, but we just assumed that it would perhaps decrease our gas mileage a bit.  So, when around 4 am when we drove out from behind a bluff into the full force of the Croatian Bora, we were caught off guard to say the least.

At first it just seemed very, very windy.  I had never driven in anything like the Bora, but we thought that by decreasing our speed to about 20 km/h we would be fine.  For around 10 minutes we seemed fine, but as the gusts increased in strength and frequency we began to imagine that we might have to pull over.  However, before we could make the prudent decision to abandon our drive we were hit by an enormous puff, and as the car tipped horrifyingly far over we heard a loud bang.  Looking out of my side view mirror and seeing our trailer blown over, with Zach and Freds boat underneath, was surreal.

The surreal feeling did not last, and as we stepped out of the car into the full force of the Bora it became clear that this was truly an emergency.  The chains that connected the trailer to the car were twisted and mangled, rendering the trailer impossible to disconnect.  Luckily the hacksaw was close to the door of the trailer, but without the weight of all 4 of us in the car our car seemed perilously close to tipping at all times.

With Thomas and I hanging off the car to keep it upright, Fred was able to cut the trailer loose and we turned the car (with our boat on top mind you) into the wind.  Luckily by now a kind Russian team had come across us, and with 6 guys we were able to flip the trailer back over and secure it.  Once the situation was somewhat stable, we got in the car and hunkered down and waited for the storm to calm down enough for us to drive to a nearby town.

One Dismal View

Later that day we dropped off Zach Brown in Zagreb so he could make his flight to Amsterdam, and after getting the trailer repaired by some awesome local guys with some tools (Thanks Ivan!) Thomas, Fred and I began the long drive North.

The long road ahead

We drove all night and reached Medemblik without any trouble, and successfully found storage space for our boat, trailer, and car.  Zach and Freds boat will be repaired, and luckily the damage was not too severe.  She will race another day!  Zach and Fred will return to Medemblik to continue their travels and training in a week, wish them luck!

More Lessons, and the Future

Aside from the sailing, this trip taught us many important lessons about this lifestyle.  We made a lot of connections with teams who will be continuing to train for the next 4 years as we intend to, which will be crucial to our success as a team.  We are already trying to set up ways for European and South American teams to join us in our training this fall and winter.  It is also important to find friends on the circuit when we will be spending such long periods traveling and away from home.

Equally important to all these things is the simple fact that we came to Europe and did this trip.  Managing the logistics and realities of travel is something that all Olympic sailing teams must become masters of, and by coming to Europe and making this trip happen we have gained invaluable experience towards becoming experts in the art of getting around Europe.

For now I will try and get healthy and Thomas will do some coaching.  This summer we will return to our training schedule, doing as many events as we can and spending as much time as possible on the water with other boats.  We also recently shipped ISV-968, our first training boat, to St. Thomas and we are REALLY looking forward to getting to sail in the Virgin Islands again.  I find myself daydreaming about blasting downwind in Pillsbury sound, call me crazy.

Thank you to everyone who has made a donation, bought a shirt, fed us a meal, or housed us during the last year.  Absolutely NONE of this would be possible without you, and we want to thank you all for your continued support.

Thanks as well to our sponsors at VisitUSVI.com, Gorilla Rigging, and Motive Pure.  These companies made it possible for us to do this, and without them we wouldn’t even have a boat!  Make sure to check out their awesome products, and come visit us in St. Thomas!  If you make the trip let us know, and we’ll make sure to get you out on the water.

Stay tuned for our summer plans, and I am cooking up a video for you YouTubers out there as well.

Love,

Nate and Thomas

 

 

 

Back Problems

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Hello all,

As some of you will notice from our results, Thomas and I were unable to compete in todays racing.

I have been having some lower back pain, and although I have been doing my best to remedy the situation the pain has not subsided and we were forced to retire for today.

We launched our boat in about 12-14 kts of wind, which I had set as my approximate wind limit for my injury.  As we sailed to the course however, it became apparent that the wind was building.  We arrived at the course in 15-18kts of wind and steep chop, and after adjusting our mast settings (a maneuver which I have to be hunched over to execute) I was in some real pain.

We started the race in the middle of the line with a top French team bow out and ahead of us.  Although we were not in a very good position, we had great boat speed and with a few blasting right shifts and a decent tack onto port we were looking to be in the top 10 boats.  After a bad call on a starboard boat and a slow duck, we were in 12th place.  I made the call to abandon the race as my back pain was increasing, and the downwind is certainly the more stressful leg of the race for me.

Right now Thomas and I have decided that it is most critical for me to make sure that I am as healthy as possible for our Olympic qualifier in Croatia.  As much as we would like to be out there racing, if racing this event precludes me from sailing the worlds then the choice is obvious.  I have seen a few specialists, and will be seeing another physiotherapist this evening. For now it’s lots of rest and Advil, and with any luck I’ll be ready to go for the Worlds.

At least we’re in a beautiful place, as you will see below.  We thank you all for your continued support in these frustrating times, and as always feel free to contact us anytime!

Love,

Nate and Thomas

 

Barcelona Photos

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Here’s an hors d’oeuvre for our upcoming post featuring content from our trip to Barcelona and along the mediterranean coast.  Enjoy!

The Segrada Familia

Inside a Cathedral

Just Past the Halfway Point at Palma

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After three days of racing here in Palma, we are currently in 57th place. Our first day of the event was a particularly trying one in which we had 2 back of the fleet finishes and a black flag. We were certainly disappointed with the first day of racing, but realized our bad finishes were largely due to big tactical errors. With this being our first regatta with a big and competitive fleet, Nate and I knew we would have some diggers because of our inexperience. Keeping this in mind, we tried to keep our spirits up and looked forward to having a better second day.

The second day went a good deal better for us. Our finishes for the day were 32, 15, 23. For the first race we had a bad start and were tacked on a few times after, and struggled to find any clear wind lanes on the first windward leg. In the second race we finally managed to have a good start and hold our lane out to the left side of the course. The left side has been consistently paying off, so getting a good start has been really important. In order to balance out the distribution of the boats on the line, the race committee has consistently been favoring the boat end of the line so that the pin doesn’t get congested with everyone trying to be the first to the left side of the course. Due to this starting has been even more of a challenge, because if you start down the line and aren’t able to hold your lane you are instantly behind the majority of the fleet that started to windward. In the third race we again had a good start, and were looking really good two thirds of the way up the first beat. Pretty close to the port layline however, we entered a header that was also a lull and dipped our windward wing and both of us were dunked into the water. This pushed us out of the top ten in the race, but we were still doing pretty well. After rounding the windward mark down speed we were forced to gybe set, which turned out to be a costly move. After we gybed we were in the bad air of all the boats going upwind and lost another ten boats. From then on we battled between 20th-30th and ended up finishing the race in 23rd.

On the third day we continued to show improvement. This was especially true in the first race where we had a good start at the pin and were one of the first boats out to the left side of the course. At the first windward mark, we rounded in 5th! The was short lived, though. While rounding the mark and rolling a slower boat to leeward, we bore away too early and our tiller hit the leeward boat and snapped. Being in the wrong we were forced to do a 360 to exonerate ourselves from fouling. Making sure to get too rattled from the incident, we stayed focused and ended the race in 10th place! Our best finish, despite sailing over half the race with only two thirds of the port tiller extension. In the next 2 races we had bad starts, and were pretty deep at the windward mark. Learning from our first day mistakes, we made sure not too overreach and make big mistakes. This strategy led to more consistent and better results, a 24 and 25. This moved us up to 57th place.

For the next two days of racing the fleet will be split into gold, silver, and bronze. Unfortunately we are in bronze fleet. While we feel we have underperformed so far in the event, we aren’t getting down on ourselves. We are using this event as a learning experience and there have been plenty of positives to take away. So far we have not only shown steady improvement due to a better understanding of the fleet dynamics, but we are confident that our boat speed is already good enough for us to finish in the top ten.

Results can be found out http://www.trofeoprincesasofia.org/result.php?miclase=49er

T-Shirts!!

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Vi49er T-Shirts

Hello All,

First, we now have T-shirts available!  They cost $25, shipping included, and are guaranteed to make anyone wearing them an excellent sailor and extremely attractive.  To place an order please send us an email at Vi49er@gmail.com and include your shipping address, number of shirts, and sizes.

There is tons to news to report, and we are busy crafting a post to detail the last few weeks and show you pictures of our new ride!  Her name is “She’s Royal” after a fantastic reggae song (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGuLqe-NMKg&ob=av3e).  Stay tuned for pics and video, buy a t-shirt, and have a great day.

Nate and Thomas

Bienvenido a Miami!

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Miami Training Update

Hello all! We have now been training in Miami for a little over a month, and things are going very well. We are having a great time living in Coral Gables with our training partners Fred Strammer and Zach Brown (www.OurRoadToRio.com), and working hard every day.

A lot has happened since we’ve been here, but I will try to relate our adventures to you all! We arrived in Miami November 10th, and we could not have been happier to be back in the warmth after sailing in the annual Snow & Satisfaction regatta at Yale (see below). Our housing has been easy, and our landlord was kind enough to fully furnish the house with furniture and beds. Also, free laundry!! I’ve never had a house with non-coin operated laundry, and I do not miss having to keep 2 lbs of quarters around in case I want a clean towel…

Shortly after arriving in Miami, some friends arrived and our couches and floors welcomed them. Emmet Smith, in town for a Melges 20 event, and Trevor Moore of Team Storck/Moore (www.storckmooresailing.com), in town to have some physical therapy done before traveling to Perth for the ISAF Worlds (P.S. congrats on qualifying for London guys! GO USA!). While Trevor was in town he was kind enough to give us some on the water coaching, and we could not have asked for a better opportunity. We also made use of the projector I dragged down from New England, having nightly debriefs with video from the day projected onto the wall for commentary. This allowed us to see everything in great detail, and we have improved our footwork as a result. We learned a TON, and it is evidenced in our sailing.

Bumps in the Road

Over the past 2 weeks we have been doing a lot of sailing, but we have also been doing a lot of boatwork. Some was important but simple things, such as replacing lines and splicing halyards. Other stuff has been pretty serious. Earlier in the summer we repaired one of our wings that seemed to be splitting open at a seam. After a hard summer of sailing, our repair started to crack open again so we made the call to repeat the repair, but include a few layers of unidirectional carbon fiber strips, or carbon uni as it is affectionately referred to. See below for pics of our first repair.

Before the repair

The wing opened up for repair

Thomas putting the finishing touches on repair 1

We worked hard on this repair, and it took about a day and a half.  However, for a number of different reasons the first repair proved inadequate and had to be redone before it came off on its own.  For this our friend Max Frasier saved the day, and he was able to help us put down a bulletproof repair that should last the rest of this boats functional life.  See below.

Smile for the boatwork cam

 

The finished repair #2

Now our current boat is working well and have been practicing hard.  I recently injured my right shoulder and am recovering for a few days, during which time Thomas and I are taking care of some business and looking to the future of our campaign.  We are currently in the process of finding our next boat, and it is certainly a process.  If we are going to qualify for London, the boat we buy is the machine that will carry us there.

SHIRTS ARE COMING!  The design for our T-shirts has been finalized and just went to print.  Stay tuned, they’re pretty sweet.

As always a huge thanks to our current sponsors and supporters, and don’t forget to donate if you haven’t already!  Our research has shown that 5$ can feed a hungry crew pasta for up to a week, so every dollar counts.

Look for edited and unedited video footage coming to the gallery very soon, and follow our facebook page for daily updates.

Welcome our new sponsors!

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Hello All!

We are glad to announce a few new partnerships that will provide instrumental support to our campaign.

The first is the Virgin Islands Department of Tourism.  The VIDT is sponsoring us at our highest corporate level, and we will be flying a brand new spinnaker with a design of their choosing.  We are really looking forward to seeing what they plan on putting up there, stay tuned.

Virgin Islands Department of Tourism

Our 2nd sponsorship is Gorilla Rigging in Newport, RI.  We will be working with Gorilla Rigging to develop a premium quality set of rigging for the 49er, and we will be proudly displaying the awe inspiring Gorilla Rigging emblem:

Gorilla Rigging

GR has rigged boats in some of the most high performance classes ever raced, including IACC, VOR, IMOCA, ORMA, TP52, IRC, Class 40 and more.  Gorilla is also the exclusive North American distributor for Blew Stoub cordage, a very high end sailing textile company based in France.  Together we hope to make our 49er the best rigged boat in the fleet!

We are looking forward to a long relationship with both of these sponsors, and if you have a moment you should take a look at their respective websites.  And visit the Virgin Islands!  I assure you it’s beautiful and enjoys the some of the best sailing on earth.

Back East

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Back on the East Coast

After an exhausting cross country drive we have settled in New Haven, CT for a few weeks.  Thomas will be doing some coaching for the Yale team, and we will be tending to our electronic, financial, and boatwork duties while we are here.

Santa Cruz Training

Our last update had us in Santa Cruz raining with teams from Bermuda, Canada, Finland, and the US.  We learned a TON from these incredibly talented sailors, and US Sailing 49er coach Dave Hughes was kind enough to run racing and drills all week and invite us to join.  It was really cool to line up with such experienced 49er sailors, and eye opening at times as well!

Santa Cruz is typically a big swell, big wind venue.  However, we never saw more than 14 kts, which was just fine.  Our practices consisted largely of short course racing (15 mins course length, 2 laps windward/leeward w/ a gate), which allowed us to do a lot of starts and work on our boathandling.  At the beginning our starts weren’t very good, but after talking through them and working on our timing we were able to get consistently good starts.

About 2 hrs into our second day of training, we were sailing around during prestart when we heard a loud pop.  Trevor Moore (US Sailing Team Alphagraphics Crew) started yelling to us that our cap shroud had come loose, but this didn’t explain any loud pop.  So, to prevent further damage we flipped the boat.  About a mile offshore in the great white filled waters off of Santa Cruz, Thomas swam out to the end of the mast and saw that we had broken our forestay!  Not good.

In order to sail to shore without breaking our mast we would have to rig a line to prevent the mast from falling backward when we righted the boat.  So, for the next 15 minutes Thomas swam around tying and untying knots in order to rig something reliable enough to trust our $4000 mast with.  Ultimately our spinnaker halyard served well enough, and we sailed to shore.  About 10 minutes into our sail in we saw a large chunk of what used to be a seal float past.  Very unsettling.

The rest of our training session went smoothly, and our hosts Matthias and Dana were awesome!

Good-bye San Fran, Hello I-80

 

Our last San Fran sunset

After a quick practice session with Team Strammer/Brown, it was time to say our good-byes and hit the road.  A HUGE thanks from both of us to Tami Honey.  Tami housed us the ENTIRE time we lived in San Francisco, and treated us like family.  Our trip might have been much more difficult without your help, and we hope to see you in the VI someday soon so we can try and repay you for your incredible generosity!  Thanks go out to to Dan Altreuter and Christina Kelly, who also were happy to help us out whenever they could with rides to and from the airport and a floor when we need one.  Go Bo’s!

We decided to try and make the road trip fast and take turns at the wheel.  This was pretty exhausting, but worth it in the end to get to our destination asap.  We saw temperatures as low as 22 degrees F in the rockies, and saw some very beautiful places.

The Lonely Mountain (with a healthy helping of Zeppelin)

Desert Mountain

After 56 straight hours on the road, having had to break into our car once along the way after locking ourselves out (thank you Utah Police!) and more Pandora radio than is probably healthy, we arrived in New Haven, CT.  A cold beer and a warm bed become pretty special after a road trip like this!

The Immediate Future

While training in New Haven we will also be trying to earn some money by selling some old gear.  To anyone reading, if you need a basically unused set of V-15 sails at a good price let us know!  We will be driving to Miami on November 8th, and will be training there until early March.  Thanks for all the support, and as always feel free to contact us.  We’d love to hear from you!

Also make sure to check out the video section for our first edited video of some of our San Francisco training sessions!