Greetings from the UK!
Everything at the moment is winding down towards the upcoming World Championship in the Hague, Netherlands which will take place from August 11-17. The Worlds venue is quite unique, characterized by a heavy tidal flow of the North Sea. Strong current changes racing dynamics quite a bit, especially around fixed marks-- making starting and mark roundings much more challenging. When structuring our training in the lead up, we wanted to clock in some hours in strong currents. We've spent quite a bit of time in Europe this summer, and with limited EU days, we are quite fortunate that Brexit occurred as we can seek reprieve in the UK. After the conclusion of our epic month in Marseille, we packed up the boat and drove North through Europe and after passing through the Eurotunnel, switched from driving on the right to the left side of the road. Coffee and pastries were exchanged for tea and crumpets. We've become quite frequent visitors of the UK recently, and we're very fortunate to have such great friends that have become like family to us in recent years. Vita Heathcote and her family run Warborne Farm, a 100-acre farm in Lymington, a few hours South West of London. This beautiful little spot on the Solent has produced several famous Olympians and sailors, like Sir Ben Ainslie. The Farm itself is a special place, located just minutes from the sea and minutes from the massive New Forest, it is a peaceful haven; the perfect location to come to for a post regatta cool-down. Rest days become filled with activities like winging, kiteboarding, bike riding, and trail running, in addition to tending to the animals and helping around the farm.
When it comes to getting back to training, the farm is well equipped, as one of the barns has been transformed into a boat shed-- perfect for 470 boat tinkering! With the recent acquisition of our newest 470 hull, we've had to spend a lot of time boat-working to get the boat perfectly set up to our liking before the upcoming World Championship. We are immensely grateful to the Heathcote family for taking us in as their own; housing, feeding, and often clothing us when we come into town! We have spent more time on the farm this calendar year than we have at home, and the Heathcote family's generosity and kindness has made our long stints away from home so memorable. Thank you! We got special allowance to join in with the British Sailing Team at their squad camp in Hayling Island, a strong tidal venue. We didn't have any accommodation planned for the trip, and when we asked Kate and George Heathcote, they offered us to live on their classic yacht, Alice, with the caveat that we have to sail her there and back! Trevor handled the trip there with ease while Louisa transported the 470s via trailer. We lived onboard Alice for the whole week at the Sparkes Marina in Hayling, and trained out of the Hayling Island Sailing Club with the BST. We had great conditions and made a lot of progress on starts and leeward gate mark approaches. The Worlds venue is closed off, and so because we are unable to train at the venue itself it was great to get hours on the water in a venue with similar conditions.
On Friday we packed up for the trek back to Lymington on Alice, what would become a 7 hour upwind adventure! We were looking great as we started our journey, 3 sails up and cruising upwind, but inevitably, we had some challenges along the way. Our main jib halyard broke, so our front sail came crashing down, and later as we began motoring against the incoming tide, we ran out of fuel! Luckily George Heathcote came to the rescue and after getting refueled we made it back to Lymington just before 1 AM. An adventure to say the least!
This coming week we are training in Hamble in a small group training with the Brits before heading off to Nieuwpoort, Belgium to connect with our American training partners at the end of the week. The Worlds venue is closed until the very beginning of the worlds, and so most of the 470 fleet is connecting in Belgium to do some training before the event starts. We are feeling fast and excited for the Worlds to begin! This regatta is important, as it is the first chance to qualify the United States for an Olympic berth. Our Olympic trials are still taking place in January of 2024, and that will determine which of the American teams actually gets chosen to represent the country at the Olympics, but first we must qualify the United States for a slot. Last week we began our final fundraising push for the Worlds! It costs a lot of money to do an Olympic campaign. Unfortunately, our US Sailing Team organization is very limited in resources, and it is left up to the athletes to raise funds and campaign in order to represent our country. We have garnered a lot of support from so many individuals, for which we are so very grateful
. They say it takes a village - we are asking everyone to help carry the torch and join us in the final six-month push to the Olympic Trials. By passing the torch, it allows us to continue to focus on our training. Our goal is to raise $17,000 which will cover the following:
Accommodation and Food: Training with the British Sailing Team, the US Sailing team, and the World Championship.
Coaching: Cover coaching fees + expenses in the lead-up to the Worlds. (Note: US Sailing will not be providing any coach or training support)
Boat transport: Delivering our boat + coach boat around Europe
Transportation: Rental car in Europe and Flights
Sails: New sails for Worlds and training
We have already made significant progress towards this goal, and are really proud to have been able to acquire a newer hull since our equipment failures at the Europeans. To be the BEST requires top-notch equipment, coaching, training, nutrition, physical therapy, mental coaching, and so much more. We believe we have the ingredients to be the top team, have a proven track record, and have been training together as a team for nearly 3 years. What we lack most now is financial and equipment resources. HOW YOU CAN HELP! Join our team and help carry the Torch forward on our path to Paris! Anything and everything helps. If you know of someone who may be interested in supporting us or learning more about our team, please pass this along to them! They will be a part of our team and receive our Newsletter and our gratitude for helping us reach our goal. You can make a quick donation of any size to our GoFundMe by clicking here. Alternatively, we are set up with the Sailing Foundation of New York - nonprofit 501 (C) (3) organization. Tax-deductible donations can be mailed to: Sailing Foundation of New York, PO Box 124 Rye, NY 10580 Check payable to: Sailing Foundation of New York Memo: Nordstrom/Bornarth
If you have friends in Europe or the States that would be interested in providing accommodations at their home, Airline mileage points for airfare, Visa/AMX, or MC gift cards just to name a few helpful items. Please feel free to reach out.
Thank you so much for your consideration in joining us on our path to represent the USA at the 2034 Paris Olympic Games. Go USA! Stay tuned for more team updates to come as we get near the World Championships!
With regards, Louisa Nordstrom
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