How to Win the U.S. Olympic Trials
Advice from veteran coach,
America One Racing’s Luther Carpenter
The US Domestic Olympic Trials is a one-regatta, winner-take-all event, which qualifies the top finishers to be nominated to the US Olympic Team. It has been run for over 40 years, with an incredible list of talented participants and winners, who engaged in historic battles.
The most recent domestic Olympic Trials was held in 2008, so as a historian and a voice of experience, I thought I’d share what an Olympic Trials is like, hoping to provide you with a roadmap and understanding of how to prepare for and compete in it. I realize that everyone can’t win, but this IS the regatta that most sailors target winning as their primary goal.
Author Luther Carpenter
My first words of advice are to encourage you to find someone that has sailed in a past Olympic Trials, and ask them about their experience. Most are more than willing to share and eager to help with advice. Search for people from 1984 - 2008 quadrenniums.
The Trial’s format is designed to test your skills in many key areas (which by the way, are essentials to winning a medal at the Olympics!): Are you a solid starter, are you fast off the line and disciplined for an extended boatspeed battle next to your key competition? Are you mentally strong if/when you lose that lane, and able to position yourself to round a close 2nd at the windward mark? When you round in the lead, are you solid at defending around the course? Are you fast downwind? All of these skills are absolutely essential for success at the Trials.
The Trials regatta demands that you are well-rounded across the conditions, and have a complete game. There are no hiding deficiencies at the Trials - you must bring the goods everyday, and be ready to perform consistently and confidently, rolling forward with the wins and losses. It’s an endurance contest of sailing at the highest level. It’s a test of preparation, mental toughness, confidence, speed, and tactics.
First Steps
The best first step to approaching your trials is to anticipate the competition. How many boats will be competing, and of those how many are capable of winning races? How many races are scheduled, and how many throwouts will be allowed? How many days will the racing be held, and what are the expected conditions for the trial’s location that time of year?
Historically, Trial’s winners sail a consistent series near the top of the fleet, winning a percentage of races, while also being careful to not accumulate throwouts or “deep” scores early in the series. “Deep” is a fleet and personal definition, dictated by your speed and abilities, when compared to the fleet’s average talent. In some fleets, “deep” could be 4th, in others it could be 10th or more. You need to evaluate where you can finish if you make a minor mistake early in a race which knocks you out of the top 3, but then sail the rest of the race to the best of your ability.
Over the long regatta, wins will be shared, and you may be surprised that even when you win four straight races, you may be only 4 points ahead of 2nd place. Since it can be hard to put points between you and your competition, the last thing you want to do is give them easy points by sailing “deep” races or scoring an OCS. This can be the primary reason people lose the Trials - they panic when behind, and play out risky leverage, which turns into a deep race. Relax, keep sailing solid races, keep the points close, and wait for opportunity. Use the 2nd ½ of the series for “creating” and playing out opportunities.
Preparation
What is the best way to prepare for such an event? Well you have to cover all the bases. You cannot have any chinks in your armor, which could deliver point losses in needless areas. Let’s go through them:
Equipment
You must have top-notch equipment that is legal to the letter, works 100%, and has been thoroughly tested. You must have complete confidence in your equipment, and be fully familiar with it. This is not the time to try some untested secret weapon or new tuning theory. This is not the time to measure a sail that has never been used. Be prepared properly, bring proven gear to the table, and have full knowledge and confidence in your performance.
You need to study who is measuring at the regatta, and the expected procedure. How many days before the event will be used for measurement? What will you do if something does not measure in? How is spare equipment measured and controlled? You don’t want any surprises here, and need to be ready for anything.
Breakdowns due to poorly maintained or faulty equipment is a sure way to take yourself out of the regatta. Inspect and replace anything that has a chance of failing, and have a complete set of spares ready to go, as well as the tools needed to make a swift change (sometimes on the water between races).
Evaluation of venue
You have to do your homework to understand the sailing course venue in detail. What is the typical weather and wind patterns for that time of year? What are the “outlier” possibilities of weather? What is the sea state from all wind directions? What is the current like? How many course locations could possibly be in play?
Study a detailed map of the coast line and course area. Perspective and familiarity drives knowledge and confidence. How long will it take to get to the course area every day? How will you commute? What are the coaching and towing rules of the event?
Once you cover these basics, then you should start finding testimonials from those that have raced in the area. What are the “best-of” guidelines and rules for racing there? What have YOU experienced while racing there? Start logging in your notebook every day.
Speaking of the venue, what are the rules of access to the venue, the costs to train there, and are there any “blackout periods” for training dates? Understand and comply with all of the venue rules. You want to have a flowing and positive relationship with the host venue, so you are positive and focused on top performance when you are there.
Fitness
Size and fitness requirements take the longest to achieve, and most of you are within range of what is optimal for your class. But you do need to ask yourself, “is there a reason to adjust for this specific venue”? Set honest targets with your coach and trainer and be fully disciplined to your goals. You want to depend on your fitness as your calling card when the series is coming to a pivotal close. If the last race of the Trials comes down to a 14-18 knot race, will you deliver the goods?
Additional advice on fitness - your aspiration is to compete in the Olympics. The Olympics is not a part-time gig. Olympic athletes wake up everyday, think about the athlete that they are, and that they strive to be. How you sleep, eat, drink, rest, sail, train, and compete should all exude that Olympic athlete mentality.
Boatspeed
As mentioned at the outset, there is nothing more important at the Olympic Trials than boatspeed. The fastest boat will almost always win. Every race comes down to extended boatspeed battles on every leg of the course.
Upwind, you must spend an appreciable amount of time training on the Trial’s course area. EVERY venue has a unique wind feel and trend, as well as wave sizes and skew. Add to that larger features like the swell, and the Gulf Stream (in this case), all of which you must be comfortable in, and have practiced in every condition. Comfort comes from hours of tuning with your partner(s), with deep attention to detail in technique, trim, and finite gear changing. Again - engage with your notebooks after every training day.
It is not good enough to practice at a similar venue just up the coast. You have to experience and feel like the Trial’s course area is YOUR backyard, and you’ve experienced all of the wind directions, wave skews, and wind velocities. Example: side swell in a SE wind - “yes I love that, the key is to (fill in the blank)”, but once inside the J marker it’s less of a factor.”
The bonus of amassing these hours and attention to detail, is that you are also mimicking and developing your mindset for the racing. You are taking notes every day of the subtle differences in conditions, and what would possibly pay on the race course. What does the wind “feel” like? What would the racing be like? How many tacks would be required on a beat? This extra detail and focus becomes your mental advantage and armor when the game gets tight at the actual Trails regatta. Honestly, every day and race at the Trials is important - be ready for it all.
Downwind Speed
Most Trials have been won or lost on the downwind legs. You must be confident rounding ahead of the pack, and immediately dialing in the first wave or mode, stretching into a controlling position.To achieve that level, you must work specifically on the local conditions downwind.
When speaking of the Miami Beach courses, it could be that a large portion of the Trials might be held in 7-10.5 knots with skewed wave conditions. This condition is marginal surfing for many classes, and quite technical both in raw speed and tactical considerations. The complete Trial’s competitor has openly trained and discussed these subtleties beforehand. Those that approach the event with “don’t worry, I got this!”, may lack key cues and techniques to fall back on in the heat of battle.
Starting
Equal in importance to boatspeed is starting. The fleets are small at the domestic trials, and nerves can be twitchy, so you must be confident in your ability to judge line location and execute speed and distance accurately. Get out there, do the work, and practice line sights with the available terrain. Those same buildings and smokestacks will be there for your Trials.
Besides working on line awareness and acceleration, you must dominate the ability to dial up top VMG right away in all conditions. What are the sail controls at 10 seconds, vang to dial, the key to accelerate, and the “high but fast” mode off the line.
You must bring top skills here to have any chance at winning the trials. Use your coach extensively for feedback and training. Details are everything.
I’ve seen a lot of Trials won and indeed lost on the starting line. The line needs to be your home, and you need to own your destiny.
Boathandling
Honest truth - everyone knows that their boathandling is not polished enough, and possibly vulnerable in certain areas. And with all the boatspeed and starting emphasis, it’s easy to rate your boathandling as “good enough”. Back to my history and experience, I have seen a number of great sailors bring “good enough” boathandling to a Trials or Olympics, and pay the price with a sloppy foul, or inability to attack or defend confidently.
Do the work, show off your boathandling prowess, and use it with confidence. Gain honest feedback from your coach and yourself on where gains need to be made.
Tacking and gybing are essentials of Olympic sailing life - WIN your Trials by being the best when battle calls for it.
Rules
I’m sure all of you have some rules questions - Dave Perry has endless interest and time if you are organized and proactive early.
Of course you want to be organized and confident to engage in a protest, and excel in the room. Have your plan, rule book, clothes, food, and expertise all lined up ahead of time.
But Dave will emphasize to you that your goal is to avoid the room. You don’t want to throw all of your hard work, skills, and preparation into the hands of a jury. Be extremely proficient and confident in your penalty circles. Practice them (no one practices this enough), and when in doubt, use that skill. Nothing better than doing your spin after making a mistake, and gradually catching back up to your main competitor. Nothing worse than towing back in at the end of the day knowing your fate hangs in a jury’s hands.
Coaching
Coaching support blooms at the Trials, primarily for towing and breakdown support. Every competitor needs to have a fair chance to compete, and it is crucial to have adequate on-water support.
Coaches are obviously a valuable asset for many other reasons: race observation, forecast and weather analysis, possible trim and technique feedback, a boat that holds water and food, a friend and voice there for you, and someone to possibly help you focus on your game, etc. All of these things are helpful, but do remember that your ultimate result comes from how you perform. The coach is there to help you deliver the goods.
Choose your coach wisely, as I’m sure you have already strategized. Share this article with them. Work with your coach at the Trials site before the event. You're looking for comfortable stable support, who is knowledgeable at the game. Make sure you and your coach are aligned with roles, strategies, and interaction with competitors, other coaches, race committee, and organizers. Keep to the themes of your regatta strategy, and keep focused on the tasks at hand.
Be attentive to the coaching rules of the event, and adhere to them. You don’t need any extra points or penalties for not following the protocol.
My Friend, my Teammate, my Competitor
In a must-win regatta, we are clearly intending and focused on winning. It is the most competitive event of the quadreinnum within the team structure. But there is this duality we live in; that we need each other, we work with each other, and frankly we respect and like each other. So how do we merge the immediate goal of the Trials, to the quadrennium goal?
The most successful model is to keep working together until a certain date - in this case I would say 1-2 weeks before the Trials would probably be the cutoff. After that (mutually agreed on) date, you are cordial, still extend friendly “hellos” etc, but respect each other’s goals and space. Many of you will have different coaches and programs for the Trials, which is completely normal. Everyone is focused on the task at hand.
You’ll find that as humans we all perform best without drama, so no need to change your relationships other than focusing on the task at hand. Some of you may even continue working together on the water doing splits etc, and some will share a coach that you are already comfortable working with.
The Olympic Trials can feel like the most important goal in your lives at this point, but many of us that have won or lost a Trials will share that the campaign experience and life, is much larger than one regatta. Personally, my life-long friends and career are a product of losing the Trials twice. Those that win truly deserve it, and as premier athletes, we respect and admire those that perform the best.
Perform your best
Many Olympians say that the Trials was the best test they ever competed in. If you prepare well, then indeed it will be one of the most rewarding and competitive regattas you've experienced. Racing in the Trials is a thrill, for you know everyone is delivering their absolute best all day every day. Everyone’s preparation is a few steps beyond what they “normally” do. Everyone’s speed, technique, trim, starting, etc is the top of their game.
Enjoy and revel in the moments during the lead-up and competition week. It will represent years and years of what you have set out to achieve in sailing.
Everyone of you will be sailing the best boat you’ve ever assembled, trying to start cleanly and shift into top-gear off the line, dominating your zone. The first cross ensues, and you’re now racing against the country’s best.
Hopefully this article has given you some insight, and leads you to the right path and mindset for this great event. There are a community of people that are available for advice along the way - know that we are all approachable and want to help. Good luck!
I hope to see you rounding a weather mark in the lead!
Luther
