It Takes a Team to Win

It took Britain nearly a century to win 14 Olympic sailing medals. After lottery funding began in 1997 however, they earned twice that number in just five Olympic Games. It is easy to focus on the money as the source of their success. But it is what they did with the money that made the difference. The money caused them to start sailing as a team. As a team they shared resources, but mostly they learned from each other and pushed each other to do better.

Thanks to lottery funding, the Royal Yachting Association (RYA) invested in a collaborative campaign model, where top British sailors trained together, shared coaches, and pushed each other hard—despite ultimately competing for just one Olympic spot. Ben Ainslie won his first medal, a silver in the Laser in Atlanta in 1996, before the lottery funding was secured. But he went on to win four more, all gold, and become the most decorated sailor in the history of sailing in the Olympics from 2000–2012. This feat has been attributed to the depth of the team and the way they worked together in a “training squad”. The names that grew out of the program are legendary and include Giles Scott, Mark Andrews, Andrew Mills, Paul Goodison, Nick Thompson, Iain Percy, Andrew Simpson, Chris Draper, Dylan Fletcher, and on an on.

Our J/70 JPod members from Seattle are slightly older than Ainslie's was in Atlanta (19), and each team funds itself, but the teamwork is there just the same. Check out this video of ‘War Canoe’, ‘Dime’, and ‘Furio’ practicing together before the J/70 M+ Worlds start in Garda (Torbole), tomorrow. I am sure ‘Lift Ticket’ was around there somewhere too. Go team JPod!

It has been blowing 15 - 25 every day, and the practice race was today and the racing starts for real tomorrow (26th). Follow the reports on our event page here.

That Torbole (very north end of Lake Garda) is a pretty good looking town! Mike Goldfarb photo.