Happy New Year!

2010 started off in grand style. Andy MacDonald and I won the Bob Levin Regatta this past weekend in Miami. It was the first regatta of the season.
We had about 20 boats registered for the event, unfortunately for the competitors we were greeted with 28 degree F weather rain/sleet and 25kts of breeze.

I think that must have been the world record for the coldest temperature Miami has ever encountered. I am still cold and the event ended last weekend!

This season, I will be sailing with Andy MacDonald. We are putting in a full court press for 2012. This being our first year together we have decided to take things slow and train in the US with the possibility of a few European events. Then when 2011 rolls around the full court press begins. Andy has been sailing full time for as long as I can remember. He is a member of the US Sailing Team Alpha Graphics and finished last year’s ISAF World Cup events in 6thplace with his crew Brian Fatih.

I am really looking forward to getting back in the boat with Andy. He is a tremendous sailor/athlete and an even better guy. Going forward we are planning on sailing the following events.

Harry Walker Regatta – January /Miami
Miami Olympic Classes Regatta – January /Miami
Bacardi Cup – March/Miami
Western Hemisphere Championships – Nassau, Bahamas/April

See you on the water.

Austin

Over the past weekend I competed in the Finn National Championships. We had about 35 boats attending this event, including a few sailors from Europe and Zach Railey (my 2008 Olympic teammate who brought home a Silver medal from Beijing). My Father in law John Dane purchased three new Finns (one for me, one for him and one for his son John F) so we have a fully sorted program, really nice boats.
I rolled up to the Southern Yacht Club (New Orleans) on Thursday evening and shoved off around 1730 for a quick sunset session. I was the only one out on the water but the good news was I was the fastest boat that evening! I started getting a really bad sore throat and decided I had better head to the barn and rest up as we had 8 races scheduled over the next 3 days.

The next morning brought about 2 knots of wind and 3 races. If I have a weakness as a skipper, it’s the light light air aspect of sailing. Needless to say I struggled in 2 out of the 3 races but I did manage to place 6th in the second race, I attribute this to the breeze reaching about 5-6kts for about 35 minutes. Then it went very light, so I was hiking to leeward in a Finn (just heinous). I had another shocker in the 3rd race of the day.

That evening aboard Showdown I started to feel even worse than I did during the day, I took more medication than I should of, but managed to feel somewhat better in the morning and sailed in 3 more races on Saturday. I had 3 avg finishes. I learned a great deal about the boat and the correct way to sail it. I seemed to be doing much better downwind than I was going uphill. It was very impressive to watch Zach Railey and Bryan Boyd sail these boats. These guys are on another level. Zach is a great guy, you will see him around for a long time!

After the second day of racing I felt so bad I decided to see a doctor with all this chatter of H1N1 etc. Well I was told to rest, no more sailing for a few days and he gave me a shot and I was put on a serious antibiotic and then the doctor sent me to the Urgi care emergency room to get tested to make sure I didn’t have the swine flu. Test turned out negative, no flu but still feeling like garbage. Needless to say I missed the last day of the Finn NA’s.

My main goal coming into this event was finish in the top half of the fleet. I sail the Finn in order to become a better crew on the Star boat and get in better sailing shape. Results aside, I learned a ton about the boat sailing against some of the best Finn sailors in the World. I am looking forward to working on my weaknesses and seeing how I go next time.

Next up- Champion of Champions regatta crewing for my buddy, Paul Cayard.

Austin

I just returned from Connecticut after sailing with Jim Buckingham in the Star North American Championships held in Westport. I love Connecticut. I attended prep school (high school) there, so I always enjoy going back.

First, Jim Buck and I sailed in the warm up regatta (Bedford Pitcher) held at the Cedar Point Yacht Club (CPYC). This was a great event with about 40 boats competing in the weekend regatta. The CPYC team led by Nelson Stephenson did an amazing job, from the evening parties to the on water support – everything was spot on.

The North American Championship had about 50 boats participating. It was really good to see the diversity within the fleet. It was true Star sailing with weekend sailors out there competing against Volvo Ocean Race winners, Olympians and America’s Cup veterans. Good times!

Jim and I ended up finishing 7th overall in the North American Championship and winning the masters division (skipper is over 50 years of age).

Jim and I had a great time, with excellent racing in a wide range of conditions from drifters to surfing down waves on the Long Island Sound. It was exciting stuff!

Looking ahead, I will be competing in the Finn National Championships next week. The Southern Yacht Club is hosting the event. Southern just finished their new facility (the old club burned down during the flood/hurricane Katrina). The new club is AWESOME. It is massive and has a huge gym – it’s beautiful.

I am looking forward to testing my fitness and skills out against some of the best Finn sailors in the world.

From there, I will be joining Paul Cayard in the Champion of Champions Regatta in St. Louis in mid-October.

Exciting times!

Austin

Last weekend I travelled to Newport Beach, California to sail with my buddy Paul Cayard in the 2009 Star Class District 5 Championships. I flew in Friday afternoon, while Paul completed the Coastal Cup race from San Francisco to Long Beach.

I set the boat up and managed to get everything ready for his early Saturday arrival. The day started out with no sunshine and rain! Not very Southern Californian, we almost had to make an executive decision and stay in the bar all day due to the lack of sunshine.

Joking aside, we headed out of the Newport Harbor Yacht Club on a tow that lasted for roughly 10 miles at 1015. We arrived on the race course around 1130 got the sails up, had a look at the rig, checked the numbers and had a look at the race course.
Situation normal in Newport Beach – light, lumpy looked like it was going to be a massive day of hiking to leeward…

We completed 4 races and managed to stay near the top of the fleet all day long, by the end of racing on Saturday 3 points separated the top 3 boats. Close action!

Saturday night NHYC held a great party where Rick Peters organized for a band that he had been raving about for days leading up to the event! They lived up to Rick’s billing, “Human Lab” rocked.

It was great seeing old friends, man I must be getting old because their kids are growing up fast!

Sunday was more Southern Californian, sunny and the hint of a day with breeze. The conditions were fantastic, 12 knots a few nice waves to surf downwind and sunshine! Paul and I had a great day winning all three races and only being crossed once the entire day! But… we later learned that the R/C deployed a leeward gate in the 6th race? Go figure in the previous five races there was no leeward gate and in the 6th race of the series they implemented a gate? To make matters worse they set it to the left of the original mark, it would of made some sense to put the new mark to the right (looking downwind) it would have been a bit more clear. And to top things off the mark was attached to a line that was way too long and the mark had drifted downwind about 100 yards… well 90% of the fleet followed us and a few folks went around the “gate”.

Four days later and I still swear I never saw a leeward gate. I guess I need to wake up a bit because as the crew it’s one of my jobs to locate the marks. I was a bit off the pace with this aspect of my job. Thankfully, Paul had seven of the best starts possible to give us a chance! The good news is even with a DSQ in race 6 we still won the regatta!

So what’s next? My firm Delta Investment Management is hosting a lunch at the Gulfport Yacht Club Friday, July 10th, so my focus is now on making this the best lunch in the history of Delta!

Good times

Austin

There have been some big changes on the professional front for me since I last wrote. I have joined Delta Investment Management (www.deltaim.com), an investment advisory firm out of San Francisco.

Before my Olympic days, I worked on the trading desk with Delta Investment Management’s founders, Nick Atkeson and Andrew Houghton. Delta runs individually managed accounts for people who would like to invest in stocks. Their track record is incredible. Last year, the strategy was down only 1.79% including fees and has beaten the S&P 500 by more than 600% since 1996.

As part of my new role with Delta, I have been travelling back and forth to San Francisco quite regularly. So last week, I was with friends celebrating Paul Cayard’s 50th birthday and before that, his daughter Allie’s 19th birthday.

In between all this celebrating, I have made it out on the water on a few occasions. Recently, I was invited to sail the 51’ Swan Beawolf owned by Swede Hakan Bille in the Corinthian Yacht Club’s Friday night beer can race which was followed by a wonderful dinner at the Club. That was lots of fun. Beautiful boat, with electric winches. We were joking that our fingers were getting cramped pushing the button after the four tacks we made going upwind.

The crew onboard Beawolf included Paul Cayard, Paul & Val Erickson, Nick Atkeson and Andrew Houghton). Together we managed to even win a trophy! That was the best part of the evening for me (I love winning!). I even got to steer half the race when Cayard turned her over to me after rounding the weather mark. Good times!

After a long night lurking around in undisclosed locations in Larkspur, I was also invited to crew aboard the TP52 “Flash” which Cayard is running the campaign for two regattas this summer, the Transpac and St.FYC Big Boat Series. What a neat experience, with lots of grinding. I haven’t spent tons of time sailing on big grand prix boats but it has really caught my attention. There is something to be said for ripping around San Francisco Bay in 17kts of breeze, doing 15kts with this massive kite up! We were looking at new sails designed by Quantum that day, by the end of the day my shoulders and arms felt numb!

The Baxter Bowl in Southern California is the next Star regatta on my agenda. It will be good to get back in the boat with Paul, to see a few old friends as well as to make a few new ones.

Austin

It’s been a very long day! I found out yesterday that there was a Finn regatta this weekend hosted by Bay Waveland YC (it’s actually opening day at the club). So I had a look at the weather, pack up my Finn and headed over for a day on the open water. Just me and my Finn with no crew to yell at!

The day was perfect, Southerly breeze 10-15 kts with about 12 Finns racing 80 degrees. Let me back up a few steps, I haven’t sailed my Finn for a month or two and before that it was in moth balls for roughly a year while I focused on the Star boat.

So rusty is a massive under statement. I purchased a Finn mast from Kiwi Sailor Dan Salter and matching sails. It makes such a huge difference when you have proper gear. I had good pace upwind, but got tangled up at the weather mark in a crossing situation that I would call marginal but I did my 720 penalty turn, so instead of leading around the first weather mark, I was about 10th after the herd went ripping by me, see previous sentence, speed was good I managed to battle back and finish the race 2nd.

So happy with my ability to battle back in trying conditions but gave up a point in the series. The second race saw the pin favored (as in the first race, but the r/c didn’t move the axis and the breeze was fairly consistent) I had a decent start about 5 boats up from the pin, had nice speed upwind and made it to the weather mark overlapped for 2nd and this is where things went ugly… While after the offset I was the inside boat and I wanted to soak low to get some gauge on the boat to weather and get some clear water. Well it worked better on paper than in realty I rolled the boat a bit to hard and rolled myself right out of the boat, massive death roll.

OK so now that I have come to the realization that my boat is nearly upside down with the boom still in the air and sailing away from my upside down it became shockingly clear that wow hoss I have never capsized in my Finn before how do I right this thing? At this point the center board was nearly all the way inside the center board trunk in the down wind position, it’s getting more ugly by the second. Then James Hunter who rounded the weather mark asked if I was ok and I said I have no idea how to right this thing. Now here comes the cool part. He actually stopped to help me out finally after getting the tip of the mast unstuck from the bottom of Bay St. Louis. Soon I was right side up with mud all over my gear and the rest of the fleet nowhere in sight so I decided to head for the barn.

It took about 2.5 hours to clean up the yard sale I had out there. It’s amazing how mud gets everywhere, just plain nasty. I hear there are a few more races tomorrow we shall see how it goes.

Later!

The 2009 Western Hemisphere Spring Championship ended last Friday and as luck would have it Paul Cayard and I managed to hang on and win the title!

This was the 9th Silver Star title for Paul and my 2nd. I was really happy to win this championship- it feels great to win again!

Paul and I put in a few days of training before we headed to Miami to compete in the Barcardi Cup last month and I think it gave us a bit of an edge. It turns out that a few of the competitors showed up early to the springs this year, but the weather was so heinous they weren’t able to leave the dock. Paul arrived Saturday night, which allowed us to sail and measure Sunday and compete in the practice race Monday afternoon. Paul selected the bow number for us and he choose lucky number 13, in addition to the normally unlucky 13 bow number we chose, we also won the practice race – which is also supposed to be bad luck.

The first day of racing saw some potential for thunder showers but fortunately the Race Committee was able to fit in one race that we won! The second day of racing was much of the same overcast conditions. This time we sailed two races and had a great day with a finish of 1,2. So after 3 races and 2 days of sailing we had a 1,1,2 and were leading the series.

Thursday’s races were cancelled due to hurricane force winds and waves, so Paul and I opted to head to the gym to get in a workout and get out of the tornado that was heading our way.

Thursday night the gang came to my restaurant. It was quite fun to see the boys making food, taking orders and just having a good time! This regatta was special for me because currently I live in the area and it’s nice to see my friends and compete against them in my backyard! Rodney Hagebols (aka Coach or Roooooooodddnnneeeyyyy) was on fire. Simply put, he is one of the best guys on this planet. His crew Conrad Brown added to the 24hr comedy fest with Cayard leading the group with his one liners, honestly if we had movie cameras in the house it would be the #1 rated tv show in America.

Friday saw the last day of racing and the Race Committee got in 3 good ones. Thankfully we won the tie breaker over Johnny Mac and big Phil Trinter (the man I was a caddy for at the 2004 Athens Olympics). The Pass Christian Yacht Club held a great party Friday night with a proper awards ceremony. Lots of locals turned up for the event I think people really enjoyed themselves! We carried the party to a local bar where I taught a few new dance moves to some of the locals who seemed to be very impressed.

Saturday morning came way too early, my flight left at 1100 and I still needed to pack. The International Olympic Committee and Chicago 2016 flew me up to take part in the Evaluation Commission walk through of all the different venues. Chicago is one of four finalists to host the 2016 Olympic Summer Games (the other three possible cities are, Rio de Janeiro, Toyko and Madrid).

Sailing legend Buddy Melges (for sure top ten on my list of nicest people ever to meet, great guy and sharp as a tack) was my partner at Soldier Field along with 2008 Gold Medalist (soccer) Carli Lloyd we spoke in front of the EC for about 3 minutes. In my mind Chicago should be a shoe in to host the Games but that decision won’t be made until October this year, so keep your fingers crossed. There were lots of Olympians present at this event, some of them included Rulan Gardner (he is a massive guy who won the Gold in 2000-wrestling over the Russian who hadn’t be beaten) Nadia Comaneci, Bonnie Blair, Greg Louganis, Jackie Joyner Kersee to name a few were all there. We had a private dinner the night before so I got to spend time with all of them! Hey I even met the mayor of Chicago, just an all round cool experience!

Then it was time to travel home after my 24hr trip. All went well from Chicago to Atlanta, then it went pear shaped. As we pulled into the gate in Atlanta the Flight Attendant came over the PA and asked us for a moment of silence to remember our fallen war heroes. She then instructed the plane full of people to look out the right window. This image I might never forget. There were 6 Marines in dress blues standing at attention, they were there picking up their friend who came home in a box who was being off loaded from a plane. I have never seen anything like this before and there was not a dry eye on the plane. It makes you think that when everything seems heinous it really isn’t that bad.

After I sorted myself out and got it together, I caught my flight from Atlanta to Gulfport. This is where is gets interesting. After we took off, there was this noise that was just frightening, so I turned up my ipod but that would not muffle the sound of what I thought was the wing falling off.

After about 7 minutes the noise stopped and the captain came on the PA and said yes they heard the noise as well, the landing gear was not retracting and they were unsure if all the wheels went back down! He also told us it was unsafe to proceed to Gulfport and we were turning back to Atlanta for an emergency landing. So after another 50 minutes circling in the air we landed safely with flashing lights surrounding the runway. We made it back to the gate where the flight was cancelled, it was now midnight I tried to rent a car and drive home from Atlanta but all the rental agencies had nothing for rent, so I got a hotel and got home at noon the following day.

All in all, it was a great trip, some of it sad, some really scary but overall another fantastic experience!

What’s next? Hopefully more sailing with Paul, getting back to my business and trying to plan my next move I am not sure what it is yet but lots to consider! In the mean time Rodney will be flying back in a few weeks to sail a Finn regatta at the Gulfport Yacht Club) so looking forward to that!

Austin


Fregene’s Pizzeria
1116 Cowan Rd.
Gulfport, MS 39507
Phone -(228)604-2750
Fax -(228)604-2757
www.fregenes.com

It’s been almost seven months since I was in a Star boat. Given the last 3+ years of full time campaigning I was really crispy, tired and burned out….and wondered if I would ever hop back in the boat.

Then I got the call. “Hoss, it’s Boss. We’re going sailing,” said Paul (Cayard).

My first thought was ‘Gee, I hope I am out of this cast (post knee surgery) in time to make the Bacardi Cup!’ To make a long story longer, I rehabbed my knee five days a week. Once I was cleared to sail by Dr. James Andrews, I made the call to Paul telling him that ‘the Eagle was ready for take off!’. Truthfully, I thought I was cleared too early by the doctor, but last time I checked I didn’t have an MD at the end of my name.

My Dad and Paul drove together from San Francisco (man they have some good stories!!) towing Paul’s Star. They stopped in Mississippi for three days where they tried out far too many waffle houses and we did some training out of the Pass Christian Yacht Club. Then the three of us road tripped together for the last 800 miles to Miami.

At one point my old man was driving and forgot to pull into the toll booth lane (apparently he thought we had a sun pass on the Florida turnpike – note that none of us live in Florida). So the cameras started to flash and proceeded to record every license plate from the Star trailer to the front and back of the big Dodge Ram. We decided that at the next toll booth we would fess up and it turned out that this was a good move especially when the traffic is full on!

We have been here for one week now and I am having the time of my life. The weather is fantastic, the wind is perfect and the water is warm. I really like sailing with Paul. The guy is amazing on the tiller. Unfortunately, I am very rusty having been out of the game for seven months, but thus far we have improved every race so the trend looks promising.

We have completed four races and have two remaining, we are in 3rd place overall with about 65 boats competing for the Bacardi Cup.

Yesterday we had a great day. We finished the race 5th. We had an unbelievable start at the pin with Peter Bromby/Magnus Lilijhdal and traded tacks up most of the beat. I have to take my hat off to Peter and Magnus they are sailing a great regatta.

Truthfully, after being away with my knee surgery/therapy I didn’t know if I wanted to come back and go again but being here with Paul and the boys makes me reconsider…..besides these are my good friends so what else would I do?

Two more races to go then back to Mississippi for the Spring Championships sailed out of PCYC.

Austin

It’s great to be back on the water…and sailing with my buddy Paul Cayard at the 82nd edition of the Bacardi Cup. Today was our first day of racing and we did pretty well, finishing 11th among the fleet of 65 Stars.

We’ve been training in Pass Christian for the last week and are looking forward to racing here on Biscayne Bay for the next couple of days.

We’ll keep you posted.

Austin

Where do I begin? It’s been about 5 months since I updated my website and lots has happened since the last day of the Olympics.

Sally and I flew to Hong Kong a few days after the last race. We skipped the closing ceremony in Beijing and opted for a quick trip to see the sights in HK. The trip was awesome and I highly recommend it. We stayed at the Peninsula Hotel and all I can say is – 10 stars with the best service!

Only days after Sally and I returned from the Games we pack up all of our worldly possessions and evacuated from Hurricane Gustav! God, I love hurricanes…. No damage but lots of wasted time and energy and money.

Hans Wallen, Steve Erickson and ROOODDDDDNNNEEYYY Hagebols all said I might fall into a bit of depression after the Games were over. I never believed them until I got home and it happened to me. It was rough. For so long I had had a regimented schedule with training and travel and suddenly it was over. If you have ever experienced this you will know what I mean but it’s very hard to explain. I just had a hard time to motivate myself to do anything. My jet setting lifestyle, the past three years sailing around the globe, hanging with my best friends was over for the short term – until I figured out my next move. Luckily, I had been preparing for this long ago. I knew it would all end sooner or later and I positioned myself for my next deal.

Sally and I have actually formed a new company called Pizza South, LLC. We own and operate Fregene’s Italian Pizzeria under this company. We have been open about a month and it’s been nothing but a raving success! We have the best pizza on this planet and I am not just saying this because I am the owner. It is literally a mouth changing experience. Thin crust gourmet pizza, there is nothing better.

I am also finally able to help in the store. I am recovering from knee surgery that I had five weeks ago. I had a few loose bones in my knee that were tearing my patella tendon in half so thankfully the US Sailing Team Alpha Graphics has a relationship with Dr. James Andrews (world renowned orthopedic surgeon) who performed the surgery and I just got off the crutches about a week ago. I do two hours of rehab a day and last week we had a big step forward. I was able to ride the stationary bike for five minutes.. Like I said, it’s the small things that make me happy!!

So here we are still living in Gulfport. Proud owners of a new Fregene’s Pizzeria and just crushing it! Things are going well, my development/management company is going fantastic and I was just accepted to college, I enjoy learning and going back starting this summer!

I am slowly adjusting to my new lifestyle but I am fighting it, I miss my friends and miss the competition.

My motivation for 2012 is starting to knock…

Austin


Fregene’s Pizzaria
1116 Cowan Rd.
Gulfport, MS 39507
Phone -(228)604-2750
Fax -(228)604-2757
www.fregenes.com

The games ended yesterday for JD and I as we finished the regatta in 11th and today’s medal race only included the top 10 boats in the fleet.

I could go on a race by race re-cap of what happened but basically when the wind was 10kts or above we were slow, 8kts and under the boat was a complete weapon.

It’s been a long week. JD and I went for it, we measured in our light air boat, sails and gear package. The weather forecast was mainly for light breeze with the chance of 1 to 2 days of breeze during our regatta (which our boat struggles in because it is optimized for the light wind as we have seen in over 40 days of training here this summer and 10 years of wind and weather data we figured the odds were in our favor). Well, it was windy for 7 races (we struggled in each one of them) and in the 3 light air races we had a 2,4,4.

Mark Pickel and Coach Rodney Hagebols built us a fantastic boat that did and performed exactly how we wanted, but the wind gods were not in our corner this week. A huge thanks to Mark and Rodney for basically dedicating their lives to this project and the boat came out beautifully. The passion that went into building these boats is something to be applauded. Pure craftsmanship. If you can’t tell, I am still totally blown away by the work ethic of Mark and Rodney. The BEST. Period. They are two of my best friends, we get on each other’s cases, but it’s out of competitiveness, nothing personal just pushing each other to achieve greatness. It may not have ended the way both of us wanted but we nearly died trying.

My thoughts on the entire event.

What an experience. Walking in the opening ceremony in front of 90,000 screaming fans, the media, the billions of people watching on tv, the people I met, the contacts I made was truly priceless. I can’t put into words how I have grown as an athlete and as a person from this entire experience.

I just finished watching the medal race in the Star Class (my class) where we saw GBR take gold, BRA take silver and SWE bronze. It’s bitter sweet, these guys are all my best friends in the world and I am VERY happy for them. On the flip side I am extremely jealous, they have what I want …a medal! It’s a hard pill to swallow knowing how close we were and how hard we worked but yet how far away in reality. We worked maybe harder then anyone else in this fleet, spent hours working on weaknesses, countless hours going over data from boat designers, sail designs, photos you name it we spent hours and hours on everything. To come up short is a hard thing to comprehend and it still hasn’t fully sunk in that its over.. for now.

People have been saying to me how proud of us they are and how great it was we made it to the Games. For me for my life it’s never been about just making it, in anything I do I always want to be the best, to win in any athletic competition any business deal I am involved with ANYTHING, and to make it this far and come up short I feel like I have let my teammate John Dane down (who will never get a chance for another medal) to all my fans out there (who send me hundreds of emails (I promise I will try to respond to them all but it’s been hard getting through them all) my coaches Hans Wallen, Rodney Hagebols, Steve Erickson (you guys have challenged me in many different ways on and off the water).

Rodney I am not sure if I could of made it this far without your knowledge about life and your approach to everything you do. Your attitude and outlook on life is something that I strive to become. Hansy my hansy, it’s been a great 3 years and I consider you one of my best friends, your knowledge of sailing and your abilities as a coach are some of the best on this planet and again I would not be where I am in my sailing career without you. Steve “Wonder” Erickson your total dedication and your total focus never give up attitude and your ability to see the good in every situation has made me a better person. I am able to look at things from all different angles after hanging with the three of you. JD I am not sure where to begin, it’s been a fantastic journey, one I am sure neither of us will ever forget and one that no one outside our core group of teammates, tuning partners, coaches and your daughter will ever understand (and they shouldn’t even try, they won’t come close to getting it). What you have achieved on and off the water has set an example for many people. I am proud to have been a part of the journey with you and I consider you a great friend, but the one thing I am most thankful from JD would have to be the opportunity he has given me on and off the water. He has never given me anything except an opportunity and for this I am forever indebted.

To my parents
Mom, I don’t think I can express my thanks and appreciation for everything you have done for me in my life, you drove me around on my paper route at 5 am to make sure I was at the ice rink for hockey practice at 7. I am not sure how many parents would do that for their kids. To my father the best gift you have ever given me was you always let me be Austin, not someone you wanted me to be. You never bailed me out of trouble and looking back on those lessons it helped me become who I am today. My wife, my best friend Sally, this hasn’t been easy sometimes but you have always been my biggest fan, my biggest supporter and all this success wouldn’t have been possible with out you. I love you all.

To my friends, family and fans
I love you all, you have supported me in the great times, you stuck by me when I didn’t think I could go on you motivated me to be great. Paul and Val Erickson – I love you guys! You have taken me in 10 years ago and I value every moment we hang out, your wisdom is priceless. Dodie Siben your words have inspired me to do things I thought not possible. Your a great friend.

What’s next?
I am not sure, but I can tell you this the future is bright, I have gotten a few offers to write a book, I guess the people over at NBC like my style so we will see where all this leads. I miss Wall Street, so I will be looking at a few offers in that field, I love sailing, but I need a break….. I am thinking about putting a RC44 team together so still actively seeking sponsorship for this next great adventure. But above all I am going to work on being a better husband and spending more time with my wife, hopefully starting a family is around the corner.
All very exciting times.

In closing, I want to thank ALL of you out there you have all had a tremendous impact on my life in one way or another, for those of you who did not believe in me I really thank you for the extra motivation to wake up and beat you on and off the water.

This adventure is done and to quote my friend and mentor Paul Cayard, “The richest people on this planet are the ones with the greatest life experiences”. If this is true, I am already a billionaire.

Respectfully yours,

Austin

It’s the end of day two here in Qingdao. John Dane and I are in first place (Gold Medal) after 3 races.

It was a good day today with a score line of 2 and 4 (bit of a bummer as that 4 should have been a 2, but we got a bit tangled up with the tornados who were finishing at the same time).

It has been a long day on the water. I am a bit crispy even after applying 2 rounds of sun lube I am feeling a bit over cooked today.

This racing is very tight and very stressful. I think I may have aged 20 years in the last 2 days. Hopefully by the end of the regatta I won’t look like I am 70 years old or something…

My mom and dad along with my good buddy Paul Erickson are all here (Sally has been here since the 7th of August). It’s really great having them here to share this experience with them, after all I owe all of my success to them.

I am tired and I don’t have much energy to put much effort into this update, but the standings for the top 3 boats are

1 – USA
2 – NZL
3 – POR

Two races tomorrow and it’s supposed to be windy (low pressure moving through the area) This might be the only weakness with our (P-Star boat) is the upper wind range so we need to get through tomorrow with some good finishes and live to fight another day.

Regattas like this you need to not get to high or to low mentally. It’s a long week and its wacky racing no matter how deep you are in the fleet never give up. This is key going forward….
Some of the other top teams have had a few bad races so its time to put the gas pedal down and turn the screws a bit more…

I will send another update after tomorrow’s races.

later

Austin

It’s been an unbelievable few days in Beijing. First off, the opening ceremony was something I will take to the grave. This experience is something no one, not even the most gifted writer could explain properly. I will do my best to depict the experience but this will still not do the actual event justice. Here it goes.

JD and I arrived on Thursday, August 7th from Qingdao. Sally and her brothers and sisters also arrived the same day. That evening, JD had dinner with George H. W. Bush and Peter Ueberroth (head of the USOC). Really cool experience!! After he finished, we met at the MPC for a quick interview with the Today Show. I think many of you saw the clip seen (based on the amount of emails you have sent me saying how sexy I am on tv…).

I woke up bright and early on August 8th, the USOC sent a car to pick me up and took me to the Olympic Village. WOW! I have done many things in my life that warrant the word cool I am living the dream, but this was by far and away the coolest thing I have EVER done in my life.

I hooked up with my US Sailing Teammates and started walking around the village taking it all in, people watching, star gazing and just totally experiencing the village life! The first place I went was the dining hall. This place was HUGE! I think you could fit four football fields under this one roof. It had every kind of food you could imagine. It even had a McDonalds in there (I never ate there, but LeBron James, & Carmelo Anthony were eating a Big Mac after opening ceremonies)! My first star sighting was Amanda Beard (the swimmer, I got a quick picture with her!!).

Next, I bumped into Dirk Nowitzki of the Dallas Mavericks (he is playing for Germany here). I said hello and he couldn’t have been nicer!! Then it hit me I saw my idol from the other side of the room I could pick him out of a crowd, I nearly dropped my food try… It was George Hincapie (cyclist on ALL of Lance Armstrongs winning Tour teams). I went up to him and introduced myself and just like ALL the magazines say he might of been the nicest guys I have ever met, he even sat down with me and chatted about the recent Tour de France he competed in two weeks ago and showed me his road rash from his 40 mph crash while going down the famed Aples de Huez… I ran into a few of my wrestling friends I had met in Chicago back in May and saw a few of my water polo buddies…

At 1645 I started getting dressed for the opening ceremony, 1700 downstairs to walk over to the USA Team building to meet and gather with all the other team USA members.
We were all driven over to the fencing hall where only the USA team was and lo and behold our President G.W Bush was there to give us a pep talk. The President was there with Laura and his father G.H.W. Bush (I met them all and even had my photo taken with them all – plus a picture with the President’s daughter!).

After his speech we mingled with the other athletes and I met EVERYONE on the basketball team!! I got pictures with my favorite NBA super stars Kobe Bryant, LaBron James, D Wade, CP3 Carlos Boozer, Jason Kid, even Coach K posed for a quick snap shot with me!!!

I also I got a photo with Freddy Adu the USA Soccer Phenom and Tyson Gay was a really cool person!!. ALL were the nicest guys… The NBA stars were very good sports and took time to talk to all of us. It’s really amazing how famous those guys are. Kobe is by far and away the biggest superstar in China. When we were walking to the stadium there were thousands of people lining the barricades screaming his name (I was walking right next to him and the guy was a total pro and a nice guy I dont know how he managed but it was impressive).
I think the biggest thing that I will remember is before we walked out on the field in front of 90,000 screaming fans all 600 USA team members stopped in the tunnel and started chanting USA, USA, USA. I still get chills writing about it those three letters reverberated off the walls and through my skin. It was very emotional to be part of something like this and something people could never come close to imagining having never lived it themselves. You don’t learn this stuff or gain experiences like this in any college or any B School. Just unreal.

In case you are wondering, YES it was me who in front of the camera said “HI MOM” the fellow next to me was my sailing buddy and 04 silver medalist Charlie Olgetree, great guy and like me equally funny (well maybe a little less than I am). Standing in that stadium during the opening ceremony was an incredible experience. The most memorable thing besides the tunnel experience and walking around the circle with the rest of the team was the torch lighting. To see it in person was incredible! I am not sure how London 2012 will top that as I think it will be a very tough act to follow.

Let’s see what else have I been up to?

My sponsor Oakley sunglasses has what they call a safe house here. It’s awesome only athletes and their guests, and select media are allowed inside. They rented out the 3rd floor of this night club and remodeled it with tons of TVs, lots of display cases for ALL the Oakleys that they give us to wear during the Olympics. Air hockey tables and all the food you can eat! It’s great and it feels like home! Al Janc and Megan Pura really did a super job of making me and my family welcome. Great glasses and great people who I am very happy about being associated with.

On the evening of the 9th Sally, my brother in law Schaeffer and me headed over to the Oakley Safe House for dinner and to see what else was happening. It didn’t take very long for Sally to make some friends (who I will not name, but trust me they are very famous cyclists who just rode 160 miles and competed earlier in the day and there Olympics were done so they were ready to rock). Just so happened that I was on the VIP list at a Budwesier party at Club Bud. The six of us arrived and were ushered up the red carpet where the media waited and filmed us. That night lasted way too late. Basically, I now have even more respect for professional cyclists. I don’t even know how those guys were standing after racing for seven hours…. just insane.

Last night JD and I did another interview with NBC, it went really well and I am sure you can find it on nbcolympics.com. After the interview, I was able to score some swimming and gymnastics tickets for the whole family. During the gymnastics, I got to meet the CEO of American Century and his family. You may not make much of this, but I used to work on Wall Street and I miss it on a daily basis. They couldn’t have been nicer, what a great family and great kids! I look forward to staying in touch post Olympics!!

I came down with a bit of the flu but not to worry I was in good hands with the USOC doctor who gave me some medicine and sent me on the way.

Tomorrow, JD and I head back to Qingdao. We measure our boat on the 13th and racing begins on the 15th.

Time to go to work.

Austin

This is a historic day in my life!

Man, I cannot believe how cool this experience is, I worked so hard to be here and now it seems that it was worth it – giving up most of my life to follow my dreams and believe in my passion.

I got a call today from the US Sailing press officer Derby Anderson and she told me that JD and I were going on the Today Show – with Matt Laurer, Ann Curry and Meredith!

Sally and the entire Dane armada arrived this evening and we headed straight to the Olympic Village We went directly to the (MPC) Main Press Center, so we could secure temp passes for everyone to get into the venue to watch the filming of the Today show.

I was taken to the green room to wait until the producer told me to head to the set. Well, in the green room there were quite a few very cool people. The first person was David Lauren and his girlfriend (you know of Ralph Lauren POLO). They made and designed our opening ceremony outfits which are pretty cool!!!! So I had a nice long chat with them and introduced myself to 3 track cyclists who were all very cool!! I am a huge cycling fan, so meeting some of these guys was a highlight. I also met Peter Ueberroth, the Chairman of the US Olympic Committee.

It’s funny, when that alarm clock went off 6 days a week at 4:45am back home in Gulfport MS to get into the gym and the countless hours of sitting in terminals or the 16 times I have been across the globe, it finally makes total sense on why I gave 150% total effort to this project. Standing in the middle of the Olympic Village was something like I have never seen before, The Birds Nest (site of the opening ceremony and Track and Field), the Swim Tank (at night it is lit up and looks like a bunch of boulders) or the mist that is coming off the practice fields, these sights make everything I have ever sacrificed seem worth it.

We made it, I can’t believe it, I can’t sleep its 1am here on 8/8/08 and today is the day its opening ceremony!!!!!!! I have my outfit hung up, and I will have it pressed for the big show!
I am so lucky!!! I am living a dream.

Be sure to tune into the Today show (Friday your time). I am not sure what time it comes on but it might be before the opening ceremony or in the am. I don’t know.
You will see JD and I and Sally. All really cool.

I am fired up!!!!

Later

Austin

Well its August 7th here in China. JD and I just landed in Beijing (from Qingdao, the sailing venue). We are here to walk in the opening ceremony which is happening tomorrow (8/8/08).

We checked into a small hotel called the Shangyuan Hotel, this is the place I booked months ago for JD’s entire family. All five of his kids are coming, plus two of his wife’s kids and one spouse. The rooms are very small and cramped. It reminds me of a hotel somewhere in a remote part of Europe. The walls are an off white color, well more yellow to be exact, and there is one English channel on the TV. There are two small twin beds jammed up against each corner of the room. Thank goodness for internet!

The funny thing is that the USOC might not let me stay in this hotel with my wife, and JD with his family, because there is a rule that all athletes must stay in the Olympic Village for security reasons. Oh well, time will tell.

Life has been great in Qingdao. We have had four solid days of training on the yellow sea, preparing us for our August 15th start. The boat seems to be going well and the boat speed seems to be there. Let’s see how this will all play out.

Most everyone seems pretty loose around the boat park, but as the racing starts rest assured there will be no friends amongst the competitors.

I will be hanging here in Beijing with Sally until August 12th when we head back to Qingdao. We have hull measurement on the 13th and the practice race is on the 14th. I will have more detailed reports as we get closer to the start of racing and after the opening ceremony tomorrow, which I will surely have memories and hopefully tons of pictures.

Thanks again for following along in this great life adventure.

Later

Austin

JD, Hans and I arrived in China yesterday (Saturday night).

I am getting use to these long haul flights, and it’s really getting easier to travel. I know the Beijing airport like I know Gulfport International. It’s a piece of cake.

I had a really great flight, there were about 150 other US Olympic Athletes on the plane from SFO. The other athletes were part of the women’s volleyball team (I am not a small person, but these gals were each around 6’7" tall and super fit athletes).

The mens wrestling team was also on the plane. Everybody needs to be on the lookout for my buddy Daniel Cormier he is a wrestler in the 211lb weight class. He’s great guy and look for him to whip a few people in a few weeks. The badminton team was also on the plane – my buddy Howard thinks they might win a medal!

But the best part of the trip was at the baggage claim in Beijing when all 150 of us athletes were waiting to collect out bags.

Austin makes rookie Olympian mistake. When we went through team processing in San Jose last week we all got our opening ceremony outfits, all the Polo and Nike clothes this was all fantastic but we also ALL got the same two pieces of luggage. Smart guy that I am, I did not have a name tag on my bag, just the name tag from United Airlines. So, after looking at about 300 pieces of luggage I finally found all my stuff. Note to self next time I will put a neon green piece of duct tape or something to make my bag stand out from the crowd.

But something good came out of the the mistake, in the process of picking up every piece of Nike luggage, I saw some other athletes bags more specifically the USA cycling team!!! Woooo Hooooo I am a huge fan… I spoke with the personal trainer and mechanic (he informed me the guys are arriving later). But nonetheless, I will be able to meet some of my Tour de France Idols!!!!! I am so pumped, I cant wait!

Here in Qingdao life is AWESOME! We are now living in the Olympic Village. I am rooming with my coach Hans Wallen, he is a great guy, tons of fun. He makes me laugh non stop with his accent and best part os he doesn’t snore… Life is great.

After the Games, the village will be turned into a five star Intercontinental Hotel, so as you can imagine its sweet!!! Were on the 15th floor over looking the boat park and the water. We can actually see the Class flag pole from our room and see when they raise and lower the postponement flag. Hansy has been joking that he doesn’t need to leave the room when we race on course A, because with a good set of binos he can coach from his bed.

Today we woke up early around 630 am. Hansy and I headed to the gym here in the hotel, then onto breakfast and the boat park.

We unpacked yet another container and after a bit of boat work we were on the water around 1400. Today we trained with Robert Schidet, Hammish Pepper and Xavier Rohart. Everything is going as planned and we had a great session. Tomorrow more of the same.

Gotta run, our team leader Dean Brenner is about to give me a new hair cut. It’s a bit warm here in China and I am going to run the shaved head look. I am trying to reduce the windage…. I already shaved my legs so now I need to make the top more aero.

I am trying to write update often to keep you all posted.

Later

Austin

Friends, family and great weather make San Francisco better and better each time we visit.

On 23 July, we finished a two week training camp in China so Rodney Hagebols, Mark Reynolds, JD and I arrived in SF last Wednesday. Our training camp was very productive on all fronts. We have chosen our boat for the Games, we have three masts we’re confident in and our sail selection looks fast.

Upon arrival in San Francisco, we all went different directions for the evening. I headed for the Erickson’s in Tiburon for some of their great hospitality. Then JD and I met up in the next morning to travel together to San Jose State University for Olympic team processing. At SJSU, we hooked up with the rest of our teammates and our team leader, Dean Brenner.

I have to say, I loved every minute of it! I enjoyed all 16 years of college, so I was naturally excited for one more night in a college dorm with my buddies and teammates.

The US Olympic Team is sponsored by Nike and Ralph Lauren, so we got some very cool gear that I will be wearing proudly at the opening ceremony and around town. They gave each of us a shopping cart and a clipboard with a list. I visited every station where we loaded up on everything, from four pairs of shoes to an Olympic leather jacket. We were even sized for our Olympic rings. We were also fitted for our opening ceremony blazers and trousers (Ralph Lauren even made the alterations while we waited!).

Then on Friday night, we were at my home club – the St Francis Yacht Club for a team send off party. Close to 50 of my family and friends came to party and did we ever celebrate! My childhood buddy CJ and his parents came along too, so I let them in on a secret that we’ve kept for 11 years. Back in 1995, I ran away from boarding school and when I arrived in San Francisco I hid out at their house, yet they only found out the details on Friday night!

It’s been great hanging out here in SF. Sally is here and helping me tick a few things off the list with some last minute shopping for Qingdao. Rodney has also been fantastic. He never stops working, I am not sure I could live without these people.

So all is well. I can’t wait to get this started!

I am enjoying sharing this unique experience with you and really love reading your feedback.

The best part is yet to come, stay tuned!

Austin

Hello from Qingdao.

Yesterday was a big day for us here in China. We have been working on a few items for the light winds we expect for the Olympic Games next month, but before we can race with them we need find out how strong they are and see if the stuff breaks and what its range is.

As you can see from the photos, it broke. Yes we found its range. Hence it was a the $10,000 dollar day (the cost for a new mast and a new set of sails).

Some people may look at this like, man that was a really bad day, but call me an eternal optimist. I look at this situation from a different angle.

1) It was blowing 20kts, with puffs up to 25kts (this is when the mast fell over) with really big waves out on the Yellow Sea. We knew the risks associated with what we were doing and went for it. You will never grow as a team, in business, in life or as a person if you don’t take a few risks.

2) It was a brand new mast that had never been in the boat before today. You might say wow that’s bad, but I say that’s good because we will never know if it was a fast or slow mast.

3) When this happened, our team rallied around each other there was no yelling, no talking just the sounds of waves crashing over the bow and the sound of a torn sail blowing in a stiff breeze. Four guys got to work to clean the mess up get on the tow and make it back to harbor. We were about three miles to the SE of the harbor entrance when this happened. We had this yard sale cleaned up and off the boat ten minutes after we got back to the dock. Impressive, like we had done it before.

4) Team work and togetherness are really strong – I can tell that we are getting ready to peak for the Games. When someone is down we pick them up, build them up and get on with the day. No mulling around, no head down moping around…100% business.

Today is another day, seven knots predicted so more racing today against Marc Pickel. It’s another opportunity to become better and faster.

It’s been a great training camp. We have nearly everything sorted for the Olympic Games as far as equipment goes, just focusing on the basics now.

We have four more days of sailing left before we head back to San Francisco.

I have to roll, I need to rig another mast and make sure she is ready to race this afternoon.

More later

Austin

Hello again from my second home – Qingdao, China.

The team arrived in Qingdao last Sunday after 30 hours of travelling. A long day, but nonetheless great to be back to work.

Since our last training camp in June, it sure has become a lot more humid and a bit warmer (I cooked two eggs on the asphalt next to our Star in the boat park today!). Rodney Hagebols, Hans Wallen, JD and I have been working non-stop since we arrived. We are here again with our training partners Marc Pickel and Ingo Borkowski. They are being coached by Mark Reynolds. It’s been great training with them. We are all really good friends and we push each other on the water, while off the water we press each other’s buttons for a bit of fun, always at someone else’s expense. This is usually good for at least 20 minutes of straight laughter.

We have a few new quotes this week that have stuck with us. My all time favorites are:

“Look at me when you speak to me”— JD3
“Diet Coke WITH ice”— JD3
“RODDNEEEEYYYY”— JD3 has perfected it with his southern drawl….
“Dude, du-de, de-dude dude dude” — Austin (the guys tell me when I see them screw something up I let out multiple dudes in one breath!)

A quick note about what we have been doing.

Testing, more testing and yes some more testing. But the good news is that we’ve finished testing and from this afternoon until this camp ends in a week, all we will be doing is racing. Time and dIstance, rounding marks, starts, match racing situations, gybing, tacking etc. Basics 101. It’s funny how you can get so wrapped up with testing sometimes you lose sight of the big picture. Remember, it’s a boat race and if we can’t execute the basics we’re already in a hole before the big show begins.

July 15th was John Dane III’s 58th birthday. We had a big night in Qingdao. We had a great dinner with the team at our standard restaurant DaVinci, from there we headed down to the club (which is also in the same hotel) where a bunch of sailors from other nations joined in on the celebration. An epic night! Just think about it, a guy who’s 58 is going to his first Olympics…pretty impressive.

I will be heading to team processing in San Jose, California on July 24th-25th. This is where JD and I hook up with other Olympians to get our USA team gear and fitted for our opening ceremony outfits. I read today that we will get Olympic Rings (for your finger, but I will also be getting my Olympic rings tattoo while I am in San Francisco. I still dont know where I will put it, most likely on my arm, but I am running out of room – sorry Mom). We have an option to take the standard ring which is free or you can upgrade to a more Super Bowl bling style. You guessed it, I am going for the bling!

I am really looking forward to it. This is an experience that I will never forget and have a hard time putting into words.

Austin


PS. Sally, honey I miss you and it’s almost over…

We have roughly one month to go before our first race of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

I just got home from China (after a 28 hour trip home). I literally started my stop watch when the wheels went up in Qingdao and I stopped my watch when the plane touched down in Gulfport… just shy of 30 hours.

A number of people ask me what I am feeling. Am I nervous, stressed, excited? Honestly I am ready to get the Games started. I am tried of talking about it. I am ready to get over there and give it everything we have. Total focus, total energy, total dedication. Just like we have done for the past 3 1/2 years.

People also keep asking me who are the favorites to win the gold? And what about the algae?

My mind set going into the Olympics will be much the same as it was during our Olympic winner take all trials. Full head down, eye on the prize. I am not worrying about the other competitors. They’re all professionals. They have all beaten us. But guess what? We have beaten all them before too. You can’t get too bogged down worrying about what the competition is doing. I can’t control that so I don’t worry about it. Instead, I focus on what I can control doing my job 150%.

My mentality is basically the same for the algae. My thinking is that with the amount of manpower the Chinese have working on it, it will get sorted out one way or another. Secondly with a target race time of just over an hour, there will not be huge amounts of leverage on the race course (like you see at a 100 boat regatta). In other words, the boats will be really close around the race track and everyone will deal with the algae. Some might get luckier than others, but nonetheless we will all have to deal with some kelp from time to time. I can’t control what happens with the algae, but I can control working on my keel swipes and rudder cleaning techniques.

It’s been great being home. Sally and I have been laying low and trying to relax as much as possible! It’s been very nice. I pinched a nerve in my neck so I have been doing re-hab about two times a day. I finally got back in the gym after a few weeks of being absent (not to worry I was still riding my road bike daily).

I also have an old coach in town, John Difede, who lives and operates out of Miami. John is currently living at my house, so with multiple sessions during the day (including massages that are NOT relaxing and lots of stretching), we are getting the issue sorted out.

This past weekend was the 4th of July. Big holiday here in the states. JD has a family tradition on showdown and Sally and I joined the small group of 96 other family members for a day out on the Mississippi Gulf. It was great! It’s funny when you marry a gal such as Sally that has such a huge family its seems like I meet new family members all the time (but between you readers and myself) I have met all of them 100 times but I gotta be honest I don’t know half of their names….. I gotta work on this one. All good though. A great day on the water followed by a good time at JD’s new restaurant “The Dock”.

That’s all for now, but here’s what’s coming up:


10-12 July – San Francisco
12-23 July – China
July 23-25 – St FYC dinner send off & pre-games ‘processing’ (credentials and team gear for opening Olympic Ceremonies)
25 July -August 1st – San Francisco , relax with Sally
August 1st – China
August 8th – Opening ceremony in Beijing
August 14th – Practice race
August 15-23 – Racing for Star Class
August 25th – Return home

August 26th – Sleep for one month straight….

Later

Austin

All is well here in Qingdao.

More of the same for the last few days. Boat work in the am, followed by dock off around 1245, returning to the harbor around 1800.

We have been very productive over the last ten days and will be closing out camp on Wednesday.

The new boats have arrived from Europe. One of them has been sailing the last few days. Up to this point all is well.

We sailed today for about four hours. No racing, just more testing and tuning. Not the most exciting, but very productive nonetheless.

The visibility today started out fairly decent, but after lunch the fog rolled in. Thank goodness for our two GPSs. We also have back up batteries for the extra GPS unit.
Safety is no accident….

The Irish and British teams are here as well. We’re not sailing together on the water, but it’s nice to see the guys in an unfamiliar place. Everything else seems to be under control, the locals are very nice and the hospitality is some of the best I have ever experienced! We are very well taken care of here in China.

Most of the US Sailing team has left. But the Yingling’s, M470, boards and Laser teams are still here. Mark Kenna our physio left today, so we are left to fend for ourselves with our sore bodies until we get home.

Not much more to report I’m afraid. But I don’t think you want to hear about me measuring the masts, then taking them out and re-stepping the rigs…

Situation normal here. Business as usual.

Later

Austin

The entire gang is here! We are operating on all cylinders. JD and Hans arrived on Monday afternoon/evening. It’s good to have the band together again!

The first day of sailing was spent taking pictures of new sails from on and off the boat! The breeze was about 4-5 kts with the occasional monster puff of 7kts rolling through from time to time. The day was very productive. We were actually very happy with what we saw and how our gear looked.

Logistics are a bit off the pace here. When we want to launch our Star boat into the water (which remember costs Y300 one way) it’s a bit more detailed. One of the coaches has to run up and find the translator, then she runs and finds the hoist operator. Then about ten people stand around and what seems to me, they yell at one another. This goes on and on until our boats get either in or out of the water. So far, so good – no damage to any of the gear, but it’s day to day.

Re-fueling our tenders is a process too. First, we have to pre-pay for the gas, we have to guesstimate how many liters we might need then pay for it. We wait about 30 minutes for a pallet jack to arrive near the boat where there are about ten five gallon fuel tanks. This is how we manually fuel our coach boats. Entertaining nonetheless. You know it’s gonna be a great day when you actually get more fuel in the gas tank than you do all inside the tender and in turn all over the sails that are coming out for the day.

The team has been venturing out of the hotel for dinner. We have discovered an Italian place called DaVinci and the chef Salvatore takes great care of us!

It’s funny, the night before I left San Francisco for China, my wife Sally wanted Chinese food. Being the great husband that I am, I agreed. It sounded like a great plan, might as well get a head start on the local food. Since we have been here we have been eating Western food every night, I think tonight I might eat some lo-mein. You guys would actually be impressed, I learned a few Chinese words. I dont know what I am saying, but the locals seem to be impressed!

Today, we might of actually had the best day in Qingdao as far as sailing goes. We docked off at 1300 and sailed down to our race course where we tested and tuned for a few hours. Wouldn’t you know it the sea breeze came in and we headed out to Korea on a long starboard tack. We kept going and kept going and kept going.

We made it into the shipping channel and even managed to get 3 horns from a passing container ship. This was all fun, but the fog came in and the visibility wasn’t very good. Hans kept looking at the GPS a few times, I could see he was getting nervous about being halfway to the United States, so we decided to turn around. It was blowing about 12-14kts and took us about 1.5 hours on a downwind run to actually see land again. We tested on port tack up to the harbor entrance, finished hauling the boats and did our debrief by 1830.

Life is good here. We all miss home and I especially miss my wife, but we only have one week left.

Our new boat has arrived in Qingdao from Germany (by plane) but it’s stuck in customs. With a little luck we might get it in a few days.

The end is in sight for this journey. We all have mixed emotions about it. I say I won’t miss it, but truth of the matter is I have done this for so long I don’t know how I will feel. I will miss the team, the great adventures and life experiences they don’t teach you in college.

It’s going be a great summer here in China…. It’s amazing how a positive attitude puts your mind in a different place…

Just got home from the gym after a long day so I’m off to take a shower and head to dinner…. I am thinking Chinese tonight.

Later

Austin

Hello from China!

My team, Rodney Hagebols (aka Hagwami) Steve Erickson (aka Wonder) Mark Reynolds (aka Godfather) and me arrived in China on Saturday night after 24 hours of travelling. We are here to train for the next couple of weeks.

Before I arrived, I spent the week in San Francisco (CA) with my wife Sally celebrating our 3rd wedding anniversary! We had a wonderful time with our friends and the Erickson family. We boarded our flight on Friday morning to Beijing and from there to Qingdao. Despite the long travel, we all arrived in good spirits and were ready to get to work. Our training partners, Marc Pickel and Ingo Borkowski, arrived from Germany shortly before us and were anxious to get started.

We are staying in the same hotel as last summer – The Seaview Garden. The have given the hotel a facelift and the rooms are all totally re-done. It’s really very nice. It almost gives me the feeling of staying aboard a Trinity Yacht with all the dark woodwork in the rooms…(well, maybe not a Trinity, but it is nice). I would definitely recommend it. When we arrived, we enjoyed a bit of Chinese cuisine and then returned to the hotel for some much needed sleep.

We woke up Sunday and headed to the training center yacht club called YinHi (the Olympic Village is not yet open to the sailors). It is very convenient because it is across the street from our hotel. We worked all day unloading our two containers and rigging both boats. WOW, we sure do have a lot of stuff! A few times I asked myself if an America’s Cup team has this much gear. The good thing is we are 150% totally self sufficient and 150% totally organized. I even rented the 40’ Container that our boats came over in, as a base station and a storage locker for all of our sails, masts, booms & parts. The only negative thing is that the locals charge us 300 Yuan to launch our Star boat and 300 Yuan to haul the boat out at the end of the day – and we have 3 Star boats here and 2 tenders.

I find that I am much more comfortable here in China compared to last year when it was my first trip, and I am much more focused. The city really is great and very accommodating.

That said, my cell phone doesn’t seem to work over here this time around, so I am in cell phone detox and I am enjoying it! But not to worry, I still talk to my wife via Skype.

Last night the boys and I ventured out of the hotel to a nice Italian restaurant in the Shangra La Hotel, a short cab ride away. Every cab ride here costs about 10 Ding Dongs (this is what we call the currency, the real name is Yuan) anyway 10 ding dongs is about a dollar. We ate at the DaVinci restaurant and made friends with the Chef Salvatore who is from the South of Italy. He took really great care of us, I am sure we will go back.

Before I left for China, NBC sent me a cool Flip Camera. It’s this really small movie camera that I take around with me and shoot behind the scene footage of what our team does. This is so fun, but unfortunately the footage I have been shooting so far has been a bit off color, so I am not sure it will make it to the big screen.

That’s all for now. I have been up since 5am (couldn’t sleep) and getting ready to head to breakfast and looking forward to another good day of training.

Later

Austin

I love this place, but I could definitely live without the cold. JD and I are in Kiel, training with Marc Pickel and Ingo Borkowski. We have our coaches Rodney Hagebols and Hans Wallen, along with Anthony Kotoun with us.

For anybody who has not been to Kiel before, here are some things about the city you should know before your trip:

1) It’s cold bring ALL your warm foul weather gear, if you think you brought enough, pack more
2) It never gets dark, so to sleep bring your sunglasses
3) Don’t forget rule number 1

My favorite comment from a German local was, “You’re cold? It’s warm today.” We arrived last Saturday after a 14 hour flight. We made it but, JD’s bags didn’t. We lent him some sailing clothes and a clean shirt, and he was good to go. Although after two days in the same gear it was getting a bit funky. Luckily his bags finally arrived day three of the
trip. Mark Pickel organized a taxi from Hamburg up to Kiel, we slept in the taxi because we knew work was on the horizon. Lots and lots of work. We went straight to Pickel’s boatyard and began preparing the two boats for the following day of tuning and testing.

Sailing in Europe is huge! Much much bigger than in North America! The Pinta racing team (Marc and Ingo’s sponsor) has their own press team and they organized a media day. Well, I expected there might be a few reporters asking us a few questions here and there. However, there were more than 25 media reporters on hand; we spent about 2 hours with the TV, newspaper and other invited journalists. After the questions, three tenders full of press followed the two boats out on the water to film us in action.

We will get some of the footage up on the site when it comes in. Also be sure to check in at www.austinsperry.com there are lots of new photos up and videos.

Looking ahead, I will be in San Diego at the end of the month for a 5 day testing session then heading to China on June 13th.

It’s all happening, is a serious understatement!

Austin