America One Racing Moth Squad Training Camp
Passion, Persistence, Dedication, and Singular Focus, are all words that describe a collection of American MOTH sailors, on the continuing quest to challenge the World Championship title this year. While the rest of the world was focused on Easter weekend, this group gathered at Alamitos Bay Yacht Club in a concentrated effort to ascend to excellence. A1R devoted coaching support with Luther Carpenter and Tom Burnham (Quantum Racing), adding to the highest bar of organization led by the sailors themselves: Riley Gibbs, Richard Didham, Harry Melges IV, Brad Funk, Ben Rosenberg, Ripley Shelley, Brooks Reed, Zach Downing, Matt Graham, and Dylan DiMarchi. Rounding out the focused effort was Quinn Wilson flying the drone, and Brad Gilreath operating the markbots!
And what better place to assemble than Long Beach CA., at the forever best sailing spot and host ABYC; where we enjoyed winds ranging from 14-22 knots daily. The Mothies logged long hours each day, leap-frogging each other in evolutions of speed, tuning, and technique, as the collective group studied beaucoup analytics (presented by Ben Rosenberg Analytics), pictures, drone videos, and the essential high-end sharing, every moment of the week. It was an impressive display of talent, be it “seat of the pants” technique, engineering knowledge, coach feedback, and experimentation with the goals presented at the beginning of the camp, and the start of each day.
Long Beach is indeed a primo sailing spot for camps such as this. The dependable repeating conditions gave us the ability to get deep under the hood with tuning and equipment, test conclusively, and then hone the evolutions to securely ingrain it into each sailor’s repertoire. The playground around the barrier breakwall and the Oil Islands also allowed us to mimic the race course expected in Malcesine, Italy on Lake Garda, and specifically work on the lane selection and battles to each perfectly laid set of markbots.
The caliber of talent and sailing skills didn’t go unnoticed, as the local home community of Olympians and rockstars of the sailing world visited the group (on and off the water), including: Pease/Jay Glaser, Pete Melvin, and Steve Rosenberg. Of course the Moths performed in impressive fashion, ripping around the course in over 20 knots upwind, and hitting 30s on the downwinds!
As a coach, I was impressed with the talent and dedication of this group. They come from different backgrounds, are different ages and personalities, but they are indeed single-minded in what they want to do together! Tom and I fed them the feedback and facts, and had no problem delivering “the next steps” or highlighting holes in their game.
The Worlds is in July, but don’t think this was a one-camp shot at preparation. Most of them are heading over to Italy in May, and will continue to build on the skills and steps we accomplished in Long Beach. I’ll join them again for 2 weeks for the pre-worlds and Worlds, thanks to the additional A1R support.
You’ll want to continue to follow this group - they are impressively talented, and on a mission to seriously contend for the World title.
Luther
About America One Racing: America One Racing (A1R) is dedicated to developing high-potential sailors and preparing them for success on the world stage. A1R provides athletes with elite coaching, performance planning, and cutting-edge resources to compete in top international events, including the Olympic Games, Pan American Games, and Youth World Championships. A1R’s commitment to youth development takes place through its Foiling Platform and squad training. Building on America One’s 25-year legacy of advancing sailing in the U.S., A1R continues to shape the future of the sport, ensuring American sailors have the tools to reach the podium. For more information, visit www.americaoneracing.us.