Road to J/24 North American Championships

Prepping the boat for the J/24 North American Championship

The Sea Bags Sailing Team is composed of members living in Maine to California, so we haven’t all been together since J/24 Nationals in May at Lake George, but that hasn’t held us back from sailing and competing this summer! Here are a few highlights from our crew: 

Erica has been racing and coaching in Sonars at the Prouts Neck Yacht Club in Maine, and she joins Jess and Emily on Jess's Etchells for Tuesday night fleet racing out of Portland Yacht Club. Both Erica and Jess join Emily and her husband Gregg on their J/35 for Thursday night PHRF racing out of PYC as well. Emily just completed the 50-mile Seguin Island Sprint, an offshore event from Falmouth to Seguin Island and back to Portland Head Light, doublehanded with Gregg on their J/35.  

Joy Martin sailed five Thistle regattas from Nationals in Montana to New York and Vermont, placing no lower than 2nd in 4 out of 5 events.  

Laura Graham, based in San Francisco, also sailed in Thistle Nationals as well as Thistle Women’s Nationals, and has been on the J/105 circuit in San Fran, prepping for the Rolex Big Boat regatta.  

Hillary Keimig lives and sails in Rhode Island and has been sailing this summer out of Newport, in the Shields fleet, J/24 fleet, and the local PHRF fleet on a J/105 and on a 1D 35. She won the VX One East Coast Championships in July.  

The team in Sandusky, Ohio - Ready to race!

We have also been training virtually! We invested as a team in coaching in the off season this past winter and continued through this spring and summer and we’re seeing meaningful results every day we’re on the water. The coaching is led by Mike Ingham, a US Sailing Coach of the Year with 30 national and continental championship victories and culminated in a day together in person in early May ahead of the JDaze regatta, following 10 plus hours of virtual sessions working together on racing strategy and tactics. Much of what we’re working on is supported by the introduction of new technology using a device called the Atlas 2 from Vakaros. The Atlas 2 is an advanced compass with multiple sensors which enable us to rely more heavily on sailing “by the instruments” and has optimized our starting routine, arguably the most important part of any one-design sailboat race.  

This week we’re at the J/24 North American Championship in Sandusky, Ohio. We’ve been preparing first and foremost by doing a debrief and prep coaching session with Mike Ingham earlier this week, noting what’s working, what’s not—relative to the coaching goals we’ve set as a team, with Mike’s support—as well as what we should focus on improving in this next event. We set a key new goal for this event, focused on fully empowering our tactician, Hillary Keimig, to make key calls and critical decisions throughout the regatta without any overrides and hesitations (unless safety is ever in question). It sounds easier than it is, and it’s a challenge for the team that should help us settle more fully into the streamlined set of responsibilities each of us owns in our respective roles on the boat.   

The team traveled on Monday/ Tuesday, flying into Cleveland from Boston, Providence, and San Francisco, while Joy and her husband John drove the boat from upstate New York to Sandusky, swinging by the Cleveland airport to pick up Erica, Emily, and Jess along the way. Logistics are key to making everything work more smoothly as a team at every event, and we coordinate a lot to ensure we all get to every venue as economically and efficiently as possible. We can’t wait to get on the water and put our training to the test with the goal of a top 10 finish!