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