Sail Strong!

Okay so I’ve mentioned Boyd’s team on this blog a few times.  What is this team he’s been practicing with over the last several months?  The name is Sail Strong run by Peter Strong.  This is different than summer yacht club team sailing.  During the summers, Boyd races on the Fishing Bay Yacht Club opti team.  FBYC hires top notch coaches each summer and the opti team practices six days a week and travels the CBYRA circuit and various USODA events (qualifiers remember?) so that the kids can compete in the various regattas.  Once summer is over, the coachs head home and most of the kids go back to school and forget about sailing until spring.  This is where a team like Sail Strong comes into play. 

What do you do if you want to continue year round competition campaigning for something like USNT?  You need a coach and you need a team of other like-minded opti racers with the same aspirations.  Boyd began training with Sail Strong over the winter in an effort to prepare for team trials.  Strong is based out of NY with ties to families and yacht clubs on Long Island Sound and Annapolis so most of the practices over the winter and spring occurred in those areas.  We spent time at Sea Cliff, Toms River and Annapolis during February, March and April with Peter Strong and the Sail Strong families as these opti sailors trained for team trials. 

Boyd will transition back to his FBYC opti team in early June but many of these Sail Strong sailors will continue on with Peter year round instead of with their home clubs.  The experience with Peter and the Sail Strong families has been tremendous and we’ve been extremely pleased.  You couldn’t ask for a better group of people and we are looking forward to spending one more week with them here in Pewaukee before summer commences and we join back up with our FBYC opti family.

Reese just rocks doesn't she?