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2024 Olympic Campaign Updates

Roble/Shea | McNay/Dallman-Weiss | Petersen Campaigns

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Roble/Shea Campaign

Hi everyone,
 

It's hard to believe that it's already mid-November, and Thanksgiving is just around the corner! We have had a very productive and busy fall since we wrote last. After a much-needed, month-long break following the World Championship in August, we resumed training in Weymouth, England. Our training partners and wonderful hostesses, Freya Black and Saskia Tidey, kindly organized sunny skies and the ideal breeze for every day we sailed. We had a chance to try new settings, battle hard in long speed tests, work on our downwind technique, and, most importantly -- ratchet back the intensity for a change of pace. 

On October 22, we headed south to Algorrobo, Chile, a quiet beach town 90 minutes outside Santiago, for the Pan American Games. Representing Team USA was an honor, and we really enjoyed competing against the small but talented 49erFX fleet. The battles and conditions were great all week, and we went into the medal race on the final day, essentially tied on points. We are proud to bring home Bronze medals, but we'll definitely keep pushing for a different color medal next time! 

Immediately after racing finished in Chile, we flew to Vilamoura, Portugal, to race in the 55-boat fleet at the European Championship. Back in Chile, our teammates loaded our boat into the container for us, and the USOPC made travel arrangements that made the long haul manageable. Although the back-to-back regatta schedule was not ideal for performance, we pushed hard to maximize learning opportunities. We won't see a fleet this size again until the 2024 World Championship in March - the first Olympic Trials event.

We are very grateful for the many people who helped make this crazy month of competing possible and productive. We learned a ton. Thank you for all of your support. We hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday with loved ones. 


Sincerely,
Steph & Maggie

 

EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP - Nov 8-13, 2023 | Vilamoura, Portugal
 

Immediately after racing in Chile, we flew to Lisbon, Portugal, which took 24 hours of traveling door-to-door. We arrived in Vilamoura with only 48 hours to get our feet on the ground before racing began. We focused heavily on recovery with our physiotherapist (and team mom), Angela Popiol, and scrambled to prepare our equipment. Our friend, Ben Rosenberg, unloaded and organized our gear and presented it for measurement inspection, which was critical to making this trip possible. Thank you, Ben & Angela! 

The forecast for a week of light air and lumpy water became a reality for every day of racing. The last time we raced in light air was April at the Hyeres Regatta, so we were eager to test our settings against the fleet and revisit light air race course craft. 

While our speed was good and the boat, Gladys, felt locked in from the get-go, finding our momentum on the course took us a bit longer than usual. On the first day, we spun two penalty turns for bad, probably jet lag related - if we're honest, judgment errors. Additionally, given what we were working on in the starting line, we found ourselves in a few unfamiliar situations that led to some inconsistent scores. Going into day three of racing, we were in 26th place, just on the edge of qualifying for the gold fleet, which is top 25 overall. With pressure to make the gold fleet, we posted a 2,4 and rocketed up the leaderboard to 12th overall. 

Once in the gold fleet, we remained focused on our starting line goals, and a few better scores moved us up to 6th overall. However, we wanted to experiment with some new techniques and strategies on the start line, and that mentality made it hard to maintain consistency in our results. On the last day of gold fleet racing, we had a tough day and moved back to 11th overall, just 4 points out of the medal race (top 10 overall). 

Knowing the Euro's was the last time we would see a fleet of this size before our next World Championship in March, we believed it was a more significant gain in the long term to focus on our process-oriented goals instead of sailing for results. Thank you to our coach, Evan Aras, for helping us stay focused and on track!


Full Results | SAP Analytics and Tracking

BRONZE MEDAL AT THE PAN AMERICAN GAMES - Oct 28- Nov 4, 2023 | Algarrobo, Chile

Representing the USA for the second time at the Pan-American Games was an honor. The sailing conditions were truly epic, with some of the biggest swells and coldest water we have ever experienced. Some days, we had a four-meter swell with 12-15 knots of wind. And most importantly, the penguin sightings were unforgettable. Although we wanted to bring home a different color medal, we are proud of how we raced and very grateful for the opportunity to be a part of Team USA for this memorable event. 

The racing was extremely tight all week, and all three top teams shared race wins. After racing against these gals for almost ten years, we enjoyed the intensity of the battles on the water and the contrasting camaraderie onshore. At the previous Pan Am Games in 2019, the Brazilian duo won the majority of the races and clinched the gold well before racing was over. In contrast, this year, after twelve races, the order in which we crossed the finish line of the medal race would be the medals we each earned. That was so cool. 

Going into the Pan-Am Games, one of our goals was to push the limits on the starting line, and we were called over the line early twice in thirteen races. Unfortunately, with such a small fleet, passing opportunities were scarce, and our scores suffered from those moments when we misjudged the risk. But we have no regrets and believe that sometimes failure is a necessary part of the learning process.

Full Results | Trac Trac Analytics and Tracking

We'd also like to congratulate our teammates, who all contributed to "the total US Sailing Team medal count of nine: four gold, three silver, and two bronze. Team USA is also leaving Algarrobo with the most medals and the most Gold medals of the 27 participating countries." We are very proud to be a part of this team - Go USA! Read more in the US Sailing Press Releases. Photo credit: Allison Chenard, US Sailing Team.

 

McNay/Dallman-Weiss Campaign

I’m writing from the island of Lanzarote, one of the Canary Islands that is a part of Spain. The terrain is like nothing else, I agree with most people when they describe it as looking like Mars. It’s volcanic, so the center of the island is dry and cold, the marina districts are warm and humid and we experience different levels of Calima, which is the wind that brings dust from Sahara and makes sunsets breath taking. And the sailing… my goodness I can’t believe this is where we get to prepare for our Olympic trials. We choose to make the effort to travel here because of the big waves, strong wind, and the high level our European competitors train at day after day. We are building a strong community here and in my mind this is one of the most important parts of training for the games, to be in a place where there is no major regatta happening and we are given the space to create and ask each other questions. Our group constantly challenges each other and because we are all pushing for excellence, days become long and on the water situations become heated. But we all come together after sailing for a meal to enjoy the beauty of what we do day after day. We just finished a 10 day training block followed by a 3 day winter series event, where we finished 5th and had a lot of opportunity to put everything we just worked on into play.
 
Racing conditions were technique heavy with light to medium air and a lot of short chop. It was important for us to check in and see if our training is in service of our goal to win a regattas. The fleet size in Lanzarote was similar to what we will see at trials so it made strategic considerations similar.
 
Along with technique and quality hours on the water as a team, we have been testing a few things and refining our equipment package. 
 
Thank you to everyone who has been a part of this team, we especially want to thank the White Bear Lake community, the Harkens, and everyone behind the scenes helping the ILYA foundation run smoothly. We would not have access to the resources we need to make this training a success without your help. 
 
We are now just over a month from our Olympic trials January 6-13 in Miami, if you are able to help us get there we sincerely appreciate it! And if you are in the Miami area, come out to watch us!
 
Lar Dallman-Weiss

Chapman Petersen Campaign

 

It was an incredible honor to represent the USA on the international stage.
I did not qualify the US for the Olympics at this event; fortunately, I have two more incredible opportunities in January (Australia) and April (France).
Thank you to each and every family member, sponsor, friend, and coach who remains with me on this adventure. You are all part of my team. 
I couldn’t do this without your support, and I am more than ready to earn my place in these coming months.
#allin

- Chapman

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