Mantra 1. Sweep the Sheds : “Never be too big to do the small things that need to be done.” – All Blacks
Our camp by the numbers:
- 10 Days
- 170.15 Miles
- 22.16 Hours
- 370 Racing Tacks completed
- 210 Racing Gybes completed
- Top Speed hit: 17.01 knots
After two weeks of some great sailing in sunny San Diego, our first 49er training camp of the summer is in the books. Even though it was light and lumpy for the majority of the days on the water, we took advantage of Mission Bay’s easy access to the ocean to go put into practice the little things and really work to get them right. No task too small to complete; no technique too simple to work on. It is easy to train and have fun ripping around in epic conditions day in and day out, but when its light and beginning to feel like groundhog day out on the water, being able to keep your focus centered on the task at hand is where the gains are made on the race course later on.
For us as a team, we centered our focus on learning each others individual sailing styles. Since we both have a fair amount of 49er experience, but from sailing with different partners, it has been fun and interesting to discuss how we used to do things, and how we want to merge them in order to do them now. Throughout the camp there has been plenty of “wow, that’s a new one, where did you learn that”, and “I like your way of doing that, let’s keep rolling with it.” The learning curve is steep and its been fun learning from each other and seeing the gains and confidence increase from day to day. We are looking forward to getting back on the water in about a weeks time in Santa Cruz!
We would like to give a big thank you to Mission Bay Yacht Club for hosting us for the last two weeks. We truly appreciate all the help and how open and welcoming Mission Bay has been to allowing us to come train and chase Nevin and Dane around the bay. As well, we would like to thank Giselle Nyenhuis for coming out, chasing us around and taking some great shots of our sessions. Thank you! Finally, we want to give a shout out to Noah and Ian Nyenhuis for stepping up to the 49er and putting in some quality hours on the water with the US 49er Squad. Can’t wait to see the boys on the race course!
Barrows Henken Racing 