IN 2015, it looked as if the Olympia High School Sailing Team was history. Its numbers had dwindled to three active team members, and if that wasn't enough, its longtime volunteer coach had recently passed away. Orion Bird, a sailor in the program of that era, recalls, "It really felt like the program was on the verge of dying." ¶ Enter Sarah Hanavan, recently out of collegiate sailing at Western Washington University. She had moved to Olympia, Washington, and started volunteering with the team in the spring of 2015. That coming summer, she had planned to travel. ¶ "Before I left, one of the three team members, Elena Gonick, a junior, invited me to coffee," Hanavan says. "She told me she had watched kids from other teams who, at the start, were just as good as her, get better. She was frustrated that she had not. And she knew largely why. She said, 'We've had this revolving door of coaches, and I am afraid you're going to leave, just like the other coaches. The fact that she expected I wouldn't be back for the fall season really pulled at my heartstrings." So, before Hanavan left, she got the parents of the three students involved. "I gave them sort of a road map-here's what you need to do to make the program more viable, because I wasn't interested in being a perpetual volunteer." ¶ From there, it went to a committee at the Olympia YC, which had been hosting and supporting the program. And then came a momentous decision. Rather than simply pulling the plug, the yacht club, which at the time was housing the program and managing it, followed Hanavan's advice and went highrisk, high-reward, shocking the program back to life by creating a full-time paid coaching position that they offered to her when she returned that fall.
To say the club made the right move would be a dramatic understatement. In only five years, the Olympia race team numbers, which include Opti sailors, Laser sailors and the high school team, skyrocketed to 70.
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der Winter 2023-Ausgabe von Sailing World.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
Bereits Abonnent ? Anmelden
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der Winter 2023-Ausgabe von Sailing World.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
Bereits Abonnent? Anmelden
Tips for More Successful Epoxy Projects
That have nothing to do with epoxy mixing or application techniques
Auxiliary Rear Station Build
From past fishing experiences, I've learned that quick changes in speed and direction are often required when retrieving a hooked fish.
TARGETED PERFORMERS
Defending their title at the 420 Youth Worlds in July, Freddie Parkin and Asher Beck were on a roll-until they weren't.
BALANCE ON THE PINNACLE
The path to gender equity in the Olympics has been a long and twisted one, but when the sailors assemble in Marseille next year, we'll finally see what's been a long time coming.
SIMPLE STEPS TO CONSISTENT SPEED
Boatspeed is the magic ingredient for winning races because we can get away with bad decisions if we are fast, but we can't make good choices if we're slow.
THREE-DIMENSIONAL JIB-LEAD ADJUSTMENTS
Floating jib leads give trimmers more dynamic control of the headsail profile.
BETTER TOGETHER
Success over three decades comes down to making it meaningful.
JUSTINE THE MACHINE
This self-effacing Swiss sailor has-in her quiet and understated way become one of the stars of offshore ocean racing in recent years, whether as part of a winning crew in The Ocean Race or building her credentials as a top-class solo racer.
THE MULTITASKING MULTIHULL MOM
Competing in Olympic sailing's most challenging discipline is one thing, but doing so with a tyke in tow takes the campaign hustle to a higher level.
CONNECTED COAST TO COAST
From sunny St. Pete to historic Marblehead, the 34th edition of the Regatta Series linked sailors and friends across the country, with a few new twists.
