Following our US Olympic Trials win, Phil and I have been planning our program leading up to Athens this August. There are many aspects to this, logistics, accommodation in Athens, physical training, on the water training, coaching, developing and testing new equipment, to name a few. Further, each of us has family that will be joining us for some part of the journey so this needs to be planned to allow for maximum enjoyment and successful racing. Needless to say, going to the Olympics is a full time job.

The first sailing step for us was the World Championship in Italy, April 25-May2. Fortunately, the US Olympic Sailing organization planned to ship the boat of the winner of the US Trials to Italy. So the container was already ordered and we were able to meet a very tight shipping schedule after winning the trials on March 28th.

The boat arrived in Gaeta, Italy on April 20 the same day that Phil and coach Ed Adams arrived. The clearance went smoothly and they were able to get the boat assembled the next day. I arrived on the 22nd and we went sailing for four hours, some of that spent with Freddy Loof.

The first race day, April 25, brought a blustery North Easterly breeze into the Golfo de Gaeta. We started in about 18 knots but the wind quickly built to 25 and topped out at 28 knots. After a conservative