U.S. Sailing Olympic Trials Mike Arrigo, Finn Class

Sunday, January 20, 2008

Final Recap - What it was like to Sail the Olympic Trials

There is nothing, NOTHING like having an Olympic level of commitment to life. The training, energy level, and my attitude were so uplifted by the quality of people in the sport. The Finn is truly one of the world's great and most physically demanding boats.

In the end, I accomplished my goal of finishing the trials, in nine days of tough, competitive sailing in everything from zephyr light conditions to big chop and stiff breezes.

In the light conditions that I hoped for, I finished in the top 10 which was exactly my goal. In the heavier air it was another story. The Finn is a beastly powerful boat and youth, strength, size, focus and TRAINING, TRAINING, TRAINING was so key.

It was a tremendously broadening experience for my family as well. We hosted sailors at our house from all over the country, and I met some of the best Finn sailors world wide. Hey, what the heck, I am married with two kids, coaching soccer teams, and working on my career goals. As a relative “old guy,” it was fun to sail against the best.

Special thanks to my wife Kristen for encouraging me to do this an not saying "no," my friend Mark Duss who helped me train for the event with road biking, Randall Gargan for fitness training, Ryan Eric Minth as sailing coach and tow boat driver, Keith Yonkers as tow boat driver, Peter MacDonald (editor, Solo) for convincing me to get a Finn and doing the trials, Blair Bryant for onshore support, Derek Mess (2007 Masters Champion in the Finn) for his encouragement, Brian Boyd (2006 pre-trials winner) for the four-beer instruction book on how to change the mast head halyard lock, Darrell Peck (North Americans winner, 2007) for being one of the best but most humble and helpful Finn sailors around, Rafael Trujillo (Silver Medal in the Olympics from Spain) for being such a gentleman and talking with me about how to sail better, Zach Railey (winner, 2007 Olympic trials) for sharing tips so well that I actually beat him in one race in the pre-trials, Joe D'Amico for selling me such an awesome well-rigged boat, to NHYC for hosing the event in my back yard so I could sail it, Forrest Gaye for the great videos I am using in the blog, and to the Finn class and its sailors who were for the most part a welcoming bunch of sailors world-wide. I made some great friends.

My best wishes to Zach Railey, who will represent the U.S. in China in the trials in 2008.