Nikola Girke and Luke Ramsay train in Miami

by Nikola Girke and Luke Ramsay on 22 Nov 2013 Nacra 17 sailors Nikola Girke and Luke Ramsay on winter training in Miami, Florida.

This past camp in Miami was absolutely great. Since getting the new carbon masts in August we haven't had any windy conditions so we needed some solid training time to learn more about the proper set up for these conditions. The carbon masts are built pretty similar to the aluminium ones in terms of bend characteristics but they react quite differently under the dynamic loads, so setting them up and sailing them is slightly different than before. This past camp in Miami we had a six boat group allowing us to look at different set ups and analyze the differences between these masts and boats. We had big breeze most of the time and thus we also got to push the boats (and ourselves!) to the limit.

This summer we had some hard lessons which manifested themselves through big crashes which reminded us to start more controlled and work our way into pushing the boat hard. By the end of the week we were doing over 20 knots downwind on the ocean side of Miami Beach in big ocean swell. Talk about adrenaline and needing to have that teamwork and communication factor dialed. The best part of this campaign is how much fun we are having together training and racing. Not only is the sailing challenging, but every day it's fun and exciting as we work through problems on the boat, always trying to figure out how to make things faster and smoother. Part of our training also had us learning how to fly…

A big thank you to Miami Yacht Club for hosting us during the winter training months at their wonderful club. An integral part in our pathway to success is being training partners to the US Sailing Team whilst Leandro Spina, US Sailing Team coach 'herds the cats', making training effective, efficient and fun. Thank you for creating this positive environment in which we all work together, push each other and rise as a team together.

Skippers corner: Wow... this fall has been awesome so far! I haven’t been back to Vancouver to see my family since mid-September but the experiences so far this fall have been unlike any other time in my sailing career; from sailing a World Championship (Laser Radial), three Continental Champs (Nacra 17 NA’s, J24 NA’s and F18 Americas), a small event Nacra in Florida and an awesome big breeze training camp in Miami Beach to cap it off. Before heading home on Nov. 26th, I have one more F18 event in a small French island in the Caribbean: St Bartholomew.