Mantra 10. Know Thyself: “Keep it Real” – All Blacks
Our Long Island, NY Camp by the numbers:
- 25 Days
- 619.98 Miles
- 62.5 Hours
- 1075 Gybes Completed
- 825 Tacks Completed
- 84 New Sail Number
- 17 days in 4-7 knots
- 6 days in 10-15 knots
- 1 Boat Packed for the 2021 World Championships in Oman
Since winning the 2021 North American Championship in June, we have been sailing hard domestically in Long Island, NY to continue to prepare for the 2021 World Championships in Oman. The majority of our training has been in conditions ranging from 4 to 7 knots and flat to choppy water, which has been great because we are expecting the racing in Oman to be on the lighter end of the wind spectrum. Our main three areas of focus have been centered on boat-handling, starting, and finalizing our Oman racing equipment. With under 80 days to go until the 2021 World Championships start in Oman, every day on the water counts to accomplishing our goal of finishing within the top 10.
This block of training gave us the opportunity to know thyself. From our previous camps, we have been fortunate enough to be in and around many top level teams from across the world. That gave us the ability to constantly measure ourselves against other teams and look for smart and easy ways to improve our own game. During this last training block, the paradigm had shifted with us now being the “top level team” as we trained with the 49er U.S. Development Team. This required us to change our focus in how we develop our game, while also helping to spread the word on the “in’s and out’s” of 49er sailing to the next generation. This shift required a large amount of self-awareness and critical analysis within our team to pick apart what we think works and what we know works. One of the key differences between thinking something works and knowing something works is the amount of confidence you apply to the given situation. Simply put, the larger amount of confidence that you apply to your: equipment, judgements, decisions, technique, ability, the better you are going to sail. And one of the best ways to build confidence, in this difference, is based on your ability to teach and share with others what you have learned. This was our way of shifting our game development: teaching others what we have learned and observing their progress to solidify our own understanding between thinking something works and knowing something works.
We would like to give a big thank you to our U.S. squad coach, Mark Asquith, for continuing to really push us to focus on all the right things that will move us into the next level in our sailing! We would like to thank the Windmark Sailing Foundation, specifically Bam Miller and Yevgeniy Burmatnov, the Oyster bay 470 Team and the U.S. Development Sailing Team, specifically Leandro Spina, for all the logistical help and support while we have been training in Long Island. We would not have been able to do this without you! Thank you! We would like to thank the Long Island Maritime Museum for generously allowing us to train from their grounds in Sayville, NY. Finally, we would like to thank the St. Francis Sailing Foundation for your continued generous support and belief in us, our goals and dream! Thank you so much!
We start training again on September 9th with the Irish 49er Sailing Team in Dublin, Ireland! Stay tune for more updates and photos! both on facebook, @barrowshenkenracing, and on instagram, @hanshenken, #49erUSSkiffSquad and @us49ersquad as we continue to train for the 2021 World Championships in Oman!
Barrows Henken Racing 