Dec 29, 2023

2023 - A Year of Action

Happy holidays from NB 470 Racing! As this year comes to a close, we reflect back on what a year we've had. For those who have been following along with us, you know, it has been a whirlwind of a year. We have come so far, and we are coming down to the culminating event of the season, the US Olympic trials, and we couldn't be more excited.

The trials are taking place out in the ocean off of Miami Yacht Club from January 6-13. As it stands there are 9 mixed 470 teams registered, and there are 14 total races scheduled across 7 days of racing, and one reserve day. The team that wins the trials event in January will be selected team for the Paris 2024 Games, however, because the US has not yet qualified for an Olympic slot, the winner of the US trials will also need to qualify the country at the upcoming 470 World Championships in Palma, Spain. To learn more about the selection process click here.

Since returning from our long stint in Europe, we have been hard at work getting ourselves and our equipment ready for the trials. Ultimately we know that we've already put the work in, and this final week before the trials is all about ticking the boxes, final gym sessions, boat work, equipment testing, and getting ourselves mentally prepared to perform. We are lucky that the trials is taking place here in Miami, a place that feels like home for both Trevor and I. With close friends and family around us, we are very grateful to have such supportive community to back us. A special thank you to our supporters at Engineered Yacht Solutions, who we had the pleasure of visiting prior to the holidays. Additionally, a massive shoutout to Bill Harvey who has put up with housing Louisa and our coach Steve during this past month!

This year we have grown immensely both as athletes and individuals, faced hardship, setbacks, failures, yet we have persisted nonetheless and come out on the other side. I can say that regardless of what happens at the upcoming trials, we know we've done all that we can, and that is something no on can take away from us. We've had a lot of great conversations with mentors recently, and reflected on this journey we have been on. Olympic campaigning is so much more than just sailing. It is a top-level education in "figuring it out". Fundraising, logistics, accounting, marketing, management, etc... these are not things that are openly taught in a course to all sailors interested in pursuing the Olympics! We've had to learn all of these things ourselves, or seek out the right people to advise us in the process. It is not something we could have done on our own, that's for sure, and it's something that I've reiterated in many additions of these team updates I send out. We have so many people to thank for helping us get into the position we are today.

We are excited to put our skills to the test, and give it all we've got. We are confident in the work that we've put in this past year, and we know that will show through in our performance. Thank you for following along with us up to this point, it is because of people like you reading this that we are able to pursue our passion and chase our dreams. We hope to make you proud.

Exciting news to come this week... stay tuned!

Here are some of our favorite memories from this year:

Racing at the US Open Series in Clearwater, FL in February

Rigging up in Palma, Spain for the Princess Sofia Regatta in April

Beautiful conditions in Spain! We managed to scrape together equipment last minute to be able to attend this event, largely thanks to our dear friends in the 470 fleet! We were beaming to be able to sail the event.

Thanks to our USST photographer, Allison Chenard, this photo of us can now be seen at your local West Marine! Modeling the new Gill Marine collection. Pretty cool!