Dear Friends,

Despite our long silence over the past two months since placing 10th at the World Championships in Cascais, Portugal, in July, we have been extremely busy and productive!

After the Worlds, we took two well-deserved weeks off from sailing to re-charge our batteries and re-focus on our next goal: winning the US 470 Olympic Team Trials. We arrived in Long Beach, CA, the site of the 470 trials, on July 29th to set up our training camp. Since then we have been based in California with short trips home to attend fundraisers, as well as seeing family and friends.

Besides training, our most important event in August was the Stonington Harbor Yacht Club Commodore’s Olympic Gala, on August 11th. We could not resist including a photo of us in our non-sailing garb! We clean up pretty well!
The event was a smashing success. Thank you to the many individuals who made it possible and attended.

In addition to the Olympic Gala, there were two evenings at Fishers Island Yacht Club, and an additional evening at the Wadawanuck Club. Thank you all for your tremendous support. You make our campaign possible!

Back to the sailing… The training in Long Beach, CA, has been phenomenal. The conditions here are perfect 470 conditions. Generally light in the morning, building to a 16-18 knot sea breeze in the afternoon. As the fall approaches, conditions are expected to remain lighter throughout the day. As Long Beach is on the Pacific Ocean, there are also good waves to surf — a groundswell plus smaller chop on top makes for interesting navigation. We have worked with coaches Peter Alarie, US Sailing Team Coach Skip Whyte, and our sail designer Kei Takakuwa from Japan.

We have been sailing with fellow Americans Stu McNay and Graham Biehl, and their coach Nigel Cochrane. Between the two of us, we have put together an intense seven boat training camp including top teams from Argentina, Canada, France and Poland, as well as other American teams. We have invited over the French Women’s team, Ingrid Petitjean and Nadege Douroux, currently ranked 3rd internationally. Ingrid and Nadege are fast in a variety of conditions: they recently finished 2nd in big breeze at Cascais and 3rd in very light wind at the Pre-Olympics in China.
Below is a photo of us winning a practice race (with the men behind us)!


Racing for the Olympic Trials starts in just over two weeks. We are thrilled for the racing to start. This weekend we have a three day training regatta, the Mikey Murison Memorial Regatta, in which all the international teams will sail. These days will be a good opportunity to test gear and get back on the race course.

Thanks again for all of you on our team who make our campaign possible. Thanks especially to our sponsors, Stonington Harbor Yacht Club and RBS Greenwich Capital, as well as Fishers Island Yacht Club, Gill, Harken, Kaenon and Samson Ropes.

Please stay tuned for racing and trials updates, and think VERY FAST thoughts for us during the Trials, October 6 – 14.

Best,

Erin and Isabelle

www.470TeamUSA.com

erin@470TeamUSA.com
isabelle@470TeamUSA.com