Final Recap - What it was like to Sail the Olympic Trials

There is nothing, NOTHING, like having an Olympic level of commitment to life. The training, energy level, and attitude were so uplifted by the quality and commitment of the people in the sport. The Finn is truly one of the world's great and most physically demanding boats.

Ultimately, I accomplished my goal of training and competing for the Olympics.  This involved acquiring a Devoti Carbon Fiber Finn, training for two years, traveling the U.S. from Seattle Washington to Biscayne Bay Miami, Palm Beach, Florida, Falmouth, in Buzzard's Bay in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, competing in the Olympic pre-trials where I won one of the races, and finishing the trials, in nine days of tough, competitive sailing in everything from zephyr light conditions to big chop and stiff breezes.  In the aftermath, I sold my Finn and shipped it to of all places, Alaska, where a former European OK Dinghy sailor and physician now uses it to sail on a lake.

Now, I'm back to work full time in my other passion, serving as a Healthcare Data, Regulatory, and Economics expert at my company and corporate Olympic Campaign Sponsor, www.noworldborders.com. 

In the light conditions I hoped for, I finished in the top 10, exactly my goal. In the heavier air, it was another story. The Finn is a beastly, powerful boat, where strength, size, focus, and TRAINING, TRAINING, TRAINING was so key.

It was a tremendously broadening experience for my family as well. We hosted sailors at our house from all over the country, and I met some of the best Finn sailors world wide. Hey, what the heck? I am married with three daughters, coaching their soccer teams and managing a business. It was fun to make the time and commitment to sail against the best for two years.

Special thanks to my wife for encouraging me to do this an not saying "no," my friend Mark Duss who helped me train for the event with road biking, Randall Gargan for fitness training, Ryan Eric Minth as sailing coach and tow boat driver, Peter MacDonald (editor, Solo) for convincing me to get a Finn and doing the trials, Blair Bryant for onshore support, Derek Mess (2007 Masters Champion in the Finn) for his encouragement, Brian Boyd (2006 pre-trials winner) for the four-beer instruction book on how to change the mast head halyard lock, Darrell Peck (North Americans winner, 2007) for being one of the best but most humble and helpful Finn sailors around, Rafael Trujillo (Silver Medal in the Olympics from Spain) for being such a gentleman and talking with me about how to sail better, Zach Railey (winner, 2007 Olympic trials and ultimately the Finn Olympic Silver Medalist) for sharing tips so well that I actually beat him in one race in the pre-trials, Joe D'Amico for selling me such an awesome well-rigged boat, to NHYC for hosing the event in my back yard so I could sail it, and Forrest Petersen for the great videos I am using in the blog, and to the Finn class and its sailors who were for the most part a welcoming bunch of sailors world-wide. I made some great friends.

My best wishes to Zach Railey, who will represent the U.S. in China in the Olympics in 2008. Update: Zach won the Silver Medal in the Finn Class in 2008. 

For my Opening Ceremonies post at the beginning of the Trials click here.

Olympic Trials Video Blog - Day One

Olympic Trials Video Blog - Day Two

Olympic Trials Video Blog - Day Three

Olympic Trials Video Blog - Day Four

Olympic Trials Video Blog - Day Five

Olympic Trials Video Blog - Day Six

Olympic Trials Video Blog - Day Seven

Olympic Trials Video Blog - Day Eight

Olympic Trials Video Blog - Day Nine

NBC SPORTS COVERAGE OF U.S. OLYMPIC TEAM TRIALS - FINN CLASS

Find more videos on www.findinternettv.com.

After two days of racing the fleet is glad to get some rest after some fairly stiff breeze and ocean chop. My physical fitness training has paid off and I feel great after sailing. Darrell Peck, one if the nicest guys in the fleet and recent winner of the North American championships leads the Trials. Results here. A comment from Darrell summed up the day. "...tonight will be a 'four Allieve night,' my knees feel like they have been ripped apart."

The cool thing is that my knees don't. That for me is a victory today. - Mike

I am hoping for lighter conditions on Monday.

Final preparation, family send off, tow out to the race course

Getting so may boats and sailors out to the race course takes some
planning. Volunteer tow boats as well as coach boats with their clients in tow
leave at about 10:00am to arrive off shore in the ocean at 11:20 or so. The
first of two races each day is scheduled to begin at 12:00 noon.

Opening Ceremonies - October 5th at 6pm

On Friday morning I attended to a few business items and then headed to
the boat yard. Once at the yard you could easily see the difference
between the sailing professionals and the family guys with careers. The
pros had just finished buffing the bottoms of their boats - the family
guys with careers were strolling the yard with cell phones in their ear.
I was just glad to have done enough life balance to be a working,
married father who could participate in the event.

After working on my boat preparing for racing the better part of the
day, it was a great reward to see my family join me for the opening
ceremonies in the evening. My two daughters and wife have benefited
from Finn sailing as well, having met people from around the world. We
have hosted traveling Finn sailors at our home and met them on the road
in places like Cape Cod. My oldest daughter is working on her fifth
grade "State Report" and was lucky enough to be assigned New York.
Magically, Finn sailor Art Dieffendorf flew in from Casenovia, NY as our
house guest. My daughter will have a real-life resident of that great
state that can answer questions.

Forty-two American Finn sailors gathered to acknowledge the start of the
U.S. Sailing Team Olympic Trials for the Men's Heavyweight Dinghy. The
U.S.Olympic committee and U.S. Sailing representatives said we Finn sailors
had mustered the largest turn out of any Olympic sailing class.

"Are you helping out with the race administration?" A friend asked.
"No, I said, I have been training like a fool for 18 months and I am
sailing in this thing," I replied. Win or loose, on the race course I
already feel like a winner having accomplished my fitness goals for this
race. My cardio is much improved with a 62 bpm resting rate, my weight
is down from a hefty 205 lbs to 183, and my strength has improved
significantly. While the extra weight would have helped me in heavy
breezes, I opted toward the long-term benefit of overall fitness. Oh,
how I wish I had another year to train and sail...

Measuring day

Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, all 42 entrants had to weigh and measure their boat (hull, mast, boom, sail), as well as do a magic "swing test" called a lambolet named after a sailor who used to sail the Finn. This test ensures not only that the boats all weigh within a certain tolerance, but ensures that they do not have ballast (weights) in different places so as to give an advantage to one boat versus another.
My boat measured in fine. Minimum weight is 120 kilograms. My boat weighed 120.1 kilos- perfect!!

Official US Olympic Sailing Web Site

Regatta updates will be posted here for the trials in every class.

 

Cheers,

Mike

About the Finn - A Video

This video tells you a lot about the Olympic Finn and why people love to sail the Finn.

What does it feel like to sail a Finn in heavy air?

The Best Finn Sailor in the World - Ben Ainslie

Technology: My Cycle Ride Through the Canyons

I used a Garmin GPS that measured everything from rate of climb and heart rate to the time of day and sunset to help me train.  Here is an image of the data you can extract from the Garmin.  Hills and Heart Rate - that was my mantra for training.   Riding a Colnago C50.

Pretty good for a guy who is 49 - eh?