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