Miami Heat

Skyline Views

If you’re going to sail in the winter in the United States, there’s only one place to be: Miami. The water is warm, the sun is out, and Biscayne Bay is flat. For a foiling boat, it’s nearly perfect. The only thing to worry about is the seaweed, the volume of which increases noticeably as summer approaches. Once there’s too much seaweed, it’s a signal that the Miami season is ending. Generally, the wind will shut off too, but we had excellent wind the entire time. 

We started training in Miami with a US Sailing ODP (Olympic Development Program) camp along with two other new US Nacra 17 teams. The camp was coached by Aussie sailor Kai, who pushed us hard through lineups and mark rounding drills. Sailing with other boats is key for gauging development and working on the response time necessary in races, so we were happy to have more boats on the water for the long weekend.

When the camp ended, Kai stuck around to run our coach boat, allowing us to have longer sessions, on-the-water feedback, and video review debriefs. We also had a quick visit from João Siemsen, a Brazilian Nacra Olympian in town to visit friends. He graciously carved out a few hours on the water to share a bit of his knowledge with us.

Sailing with the ODP squad

After returning from Palma for spring training, we knew we wanted to keep learning from João, and luckily he was available for coaching. He flew back up from Brazil with lots of energy and enthusiasm for the project. Noting that the flat waters of the bay seemed a bit too easy to sail in, João pushed us out into the ocean to facilitate big wave practice. We usually had 12-15knots on the outside of Key Biscayne and waves to match, giving us plenty to work on as we trained to maximize fly time while experimenting with the foil and sail set-ups. The sails in from the ocean were at the max as João set a rule that we had to stay flying on a power reach the whole way in as well - no easy feat with the shifty wind, meandering channel, and other vessels looking to get out to sea. We played a lot with the main trim and controls to maintain the fast and furious rip back to home base. 

Big Wave Training

We are pleased with the progress over the Miami season. It was great to be back to full-time training and we are grateful to have had the support of Kai and João to boost our efforts! 

The Miami season was not without its losses as we ripped two mainsails in a row, a sign that we are definitely putting in a lot of hours on our equipment, all of which had already served us well during the Paris quad. Luckily for now, we have enough in the US to make due until we can place an order for new sails. Lindsay also had a clumsy launching incident and dislocated a toe with a few days remaining in the last training block. Carson popped it back in, taped her up, and she was able to hold it together through the final days of training and boat pack-up. Luckily, it is nothing serious and she should be back in shape for our next event in Greece!