Long Beach Living
Hello all! After a long summer in Long Beach, I am now back in Clearwater for the next couple of months. Long Beach was everything I hoped it to be to start off my campaign for 2028. It brought consistent breeze and the best windsurfers in the world to see the future Olympic venue. It gave me the opportunity to sail very consistently and shake off all the rust from my time away from the sport while I finished my degree and to grow beyond where I was at the 2024 Olympic trials.
To start from the beginning, Maverick and I started our summer with the three-day drive across the country. We then settled into our apartment and our temporary home at Alamitos Bay Yacht Club. We started by simply putting in a ton of hours on the water to build up calluses and get my feet on the board again. Then, in early July, the US Sailing Olympic Development Program held a small training camp where I was able to work with world-class sports psychologists, nutritionists, and meteorologists. This camp transitioned straight into the Olympic Class Regatta in Long Beach. This regatta was small since it was very close to the iQFOiL World Championships making the fleet me and six Chinese women- who make up one of the strongest iQFOiL teams in the world. Since this regatta was so early on in my return to windsurfing, I was looking at it as a learning experience and to help highlight areas where I need to keep working. However, I went out and won the first race which was a huge confidence booster! I continued to be very competitive due to my upwind speed even when I was making errors in other areas of the course. I was able to wear the silver penny going into day two which was a very nice surprise. The last two days of the regatta brought light wind and certainly highlighted a weakness of mine. I ended the regatta in fourth and with a refined focus for what to work on.
Also in July, I started a new and exciting chapter of my life. Through a partnership with Guild, Team USA is offering full tuition to certain online programs to Team USA athletes. Through this opportunity I am now pursuing my MBA at Purdue Global! I am super excited about this opportunity to continue to develop professionally while I windsurf and have something for my brain to work on other than constantly thinking about how to get around buoys faster.
The end of July and August were characterized by different international training groups coming to Long Beach. There were Kiwis, British, Spanish, Israeli, Dutch, and so many more training at the future Olympic venue. I was fortunate to be able to join several of these groups and continue to push myself against some of the best in the world. My speed continued to shine, and maneuvers and starts stayed at the top of the list of things to work on. This is one of the greatest advantages of being the host country of the next Olympics.
As we entered September, the international sailors went home, and Maverick and I stuck with our Long Beach routine. We would go to the gym, do some homework, and then go sailing. Rinse and repeat literally everyday thanks to the extremely consistent weather in Long Beach. We would pick a skill and work on it until we saw substantial improvement and would then move onto the next. We were also able to help some up-and-coming youth sailors at Alamitos Bay Yacht Club which was super fun and a rewarding way to end the summer.
Overall, the summer in Long Beach was great! I made huge strides in my windsurfing and am super excited to keep working on things at home! Long Beach also allowed me to spend the most time with my oldest sister since she moved away for college, be close to extended family, and have visits from a couple friends who live in California. So, thank you Long Beach for the amazing summer :)
