The LoG
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After a month bouncing between training camps and competition in Palma, we're back home in Long Beach with some serious insights about where we stand in this Olympic campaign.
This winter, we committed fully to the "year two" philosophy that our coach Willie has always preached: boat speed, boat speed, boat speed. While it might sound simple, developing speed in the 49er is incredibly complex—we're constantly switching between different modes and gears depending on conditions.
We spent our winter training alongside some of the world's best teams in Cadiz and Vilamoura. Working with the Swedish and Dutch squads gave us the perfect training partners—crews that were consistently faster than us, which is exactly what you want when you're trying to improve. We shared everything: settings, techniques, even swapped boats to understand different sensations and feelings on the water.
The Dutch connection has been particularly special. It started when Willie reached out to Floris van der Werken, a three-time 49er world champion, and somehow convinced him to coach us. Turns out he loves America! The Dutch sailors are incredibly welcoming and refreshingly direct—they tell you exactly what you need to hear, when you need to hear it.
Palma served as our benchmark event—the first time the entire international fleet comes together after winter training. With nearly 100 boats and all the Olympic classes present, it's where you put your money where your mouth is.
The good news? Our speed work is paying off. In training sessions with top Austrian and Dutch teams before the regatta, we were holding our own in multiple conditions. We started the event strong and maintained good pace throughout.
The challenging news? This was the first major 49er event using Vakaros RaceSense technology, and it completely changed starting dynamics. Without being able to see the line ends in tight packs, sailors had to rely on precise positioning rather than visual judgment. The first start had 18 boats over the line—and that wasn't unusual for the week. We had to completely rethink our starting approach.
We've just completed a five-day camp here in Long Beach focused on speed work and—crucially—starting practice. Every day ended with an hour of start sequences on the biggest line we could set, learning to "ping" the line without relying on distance-to-line displays.
This is what we love about sailing at this level: just when you think you've mastered something, the sport evolves. The Vakaros system is here to stay, so we're adapting our training to match.
Our next major check-in is Worlds in Hyères this May, followed by the San Pedro OCR in late July. Between now and then, we're hosting some incredible training partners: a top Polish team in June and a Gold Fleet Swedish team for the entire month leading up to San Pedro.
Nothing fancy—just heads down, logging hours on the water and in the gym while we're based in one spot. We're trusting the process, knowing that this methodical approach to speed development is what separates good campaigns from great ones.
With two years until the Olympics come to our home waters in San Pedro, every training session matters.
Thanks for following along on this journey—there's so much more to come.
When we were kids sailing Optimists at our local yacht club, we never imagined we'd be here—training full-time for the Olympics in the 49er skiff. But sometimes the biggest dreams start with the smallest boats.
We're Jordan (20, skipper) and Grant (23, crew), and we've been racing together since I was 13 and Grant was 16. What started as two brothers needing a sailing partner after our older brother went to college has evolved into a full Olympic campaign.
Our path wasn't typical. When COVID disrupted our Youth Worlds plans in the 29er, we didn't see it as an ending—we saw it as an opportunity. We were already running our junior campaign with Olympic-level intensity, complete with online school, professional coaching, and a two-boat training program. The transition to the 49er felt natural, even if the learning curve has been anything but easy.
Grant likes to tell the story of our first Junior Worlds in the full-rig 49er. We finished near the bottom of the fleet—a harsh welcome to what he calls "sailing against some of the best sailors on the planet." It's true that in the 49er class, you're literally starting between SailGP skippers and Olympic medalists. The margins are razor-thin, with entire fleets rounding marks within 90 seconds of each other.
But here's what keeps us going: we trust the process. As Jordan often says, borrowing wisdom from Ian Barrows, progress isn't always reflected in results. Sometimes it's holding a lane longer against a top team. Sometimes it's executing one maneuver cleaner than yesterday. These small gains compound over time.
While our hearts are in the 49er, we've learned that becoming complete sailors means racing everything we can get our hands on. Grant's experience winning his division at the J/70 Worlds and taking third at the Melges 24 Worlds has taught us that skills transfer across boats. This year, we're expanding our racing calendar to include:
Each boat teaches us something different—tactics, boat handling, pressure management—that we bring back to our 49er.
We're now almost two years into full-time campaigning, though honestly, we've been on this path since we were 14. We've transitioned from 29ers to 49erFXs to the full 49er, growing stronger with each step. Grant graduated from UCLA early, I'm finishing college online, and we're both all-in on this dream.
The road to LA 2028 is long, and we're still near the beginning. But when you're sailing against the best in the world every day, getting your teeth kicked in just means you're in the right neighborhood. We wouldn't want it any other way.
We've just wrapped up an intense month of training in Europe, and the lessons we're learning are transforming how we approach speed in the 49er. Working with world-class coaches has given us incredible insights, but perhaps more importantly, it's taught us how to make those insights our own.
One of the most valuable lessons from this training block has been understanding that there's no single "right" way to set up a 49er. Working with Ben Bildstein, we ran tight lowers and medium caps. With Maurice (a top Dutch coach), we flipped that completely — tight caps and very loose lowers. Each setup has its merits, but the real learning comes from testing these settings through their entire range.
As Grant explained during our debrief, "Even if you know that going 10 on the lowers is probably not going to be very fast, it's really helpful to know what that feeling is like, so that when you're one or half a lower too tight, you kind of recognize that while you're sailing."
Perhaps our biggest breakthrough came from something Maurice told us early in our training: "Americans are always so scared to have a little bit of power in the boat." This observation has completely changed our approach to jib trim.
We've discovered that keeping a firmer leech on the jib — even to the point where Jordan reports it's folding back on the spreader at times — provides incredible stability when the pressure drops. In variable conditions around 9-11 knots, this extra grip prevents the boat from "falling out from underneath us" in the lulls.
With Grant on mainsheet and Jordan handling both jib sheet and helm, constant communication about boat feel is crucial. We're learning to recognize when disagreements about boat feel signal the need for adjustments. It's not about who's right or wrong — it's about finding the sweet spot where helm load and mainsheet tension work in harmony.
Grant summed it up perfectly: "The 49er is a very sensational boat, and most of the feedback I'm getting is just by feeling." This sensitivity means we need to constantly calibrate our sensations and communicate what we're experiencing.
These technical breakthroughs are building our confidence for the challenges ahead. By embracing the philosophy of testing extremes to find our optimal settings, we're developing our own style — one that combines the best insights from world-class coaches with what works specifically for our team.
The journey from imitation to innovation is ongoing, but with each training session, we're getting closer to unlocking our full potential in the 49er. Stay tuned as we continue to push boundaries and chase our Olympic dreams!
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