Following Nikola & Luke

Life on Canada’s West Coast is exceptional and when we get info from our Olympic Athletes, it’s even greater.

Such is the case as we follow Nikola and Luke in the prep to Rio for the Olympic Games.

Have a read and prepare to follow with more great stories to follow.

Hi Everyone:

In preparation for the Olympics in Rio, we not only have to prepare ourselves for the sailing, but for life in Rio in general.

Although stunned by it’s beauty each day, in our last MakeAChamp email we eluded to the general state of disarray in the country: water quality, Zika, safety concerns and government instability.

We are taking precautions where we can and we can only hope that Brazil pulls off an incredible Olympic experience for all involved. Read the article linked below to get a feel for what we are up against.

We’ve had a really productive training camp here in Rio – including sailing in a coach led regatta which simulated the exact format of racing that we are to face during our time here in August.

After starting on the back foot for the first 3 days of the regatta, we managed to refocus and sail our way into the top ten – finishing up 9th overall after the medal race and 14 races.

Racing is very tricky here – both the current and the wind are somewhat crazy here and it’ll require us to remain calm and focused throughout each and every race while knowing that the race isn’t over till the fat lady sings.

While at home early May both of us gave a talk at Jericho Sailing Centre to the enthusiastic group of catamaran sailors as well as spending an afternoon at Hollyburn Sailing Club coaching their race team followed by a presentation evening with their members.

Good times for us and great to have everyone come out to these events.

At least one of our Olympic spinnakers is made!!! We are super excited to see the huge maple leaf get hoisted faster than any other boats.

The spinnakers usually cost around $1000 but since each spinnaker has to be made identically but unique to each flag, the cost jumped almost 3 times that.

This is an example of how our gear budget adds up quickly.

Thank you to K3 our newest gear sponsor – supplying our team with waterproof bags!

Following the completion of the 2016 RIO Olympics tune in and watch the action from the 2016 Paralympic Games.