Clearwater and Cozumel
After Hyeres, I headed home on one of the longest travel journeys of my life. An overnight, 10-hour layover in Istanbul, delayed and missed connections, rechecking windsurfing equipment, and 3 flights later, I finally made it back home to Tampa. I would have about two weeks at home before heading off to Cozumel for the next training block with the US Women’s iQFOiL Squad. These two weeks were spent doing lots of physical training, catching up with friends and family, and even a quick weekend visit back to WashU. Light winds kept me off the water a lot of days, but I kept pushing in the gym and used the time to improve my gear.
I then packed up once again and started my trip to Cozumel, Mexico. My coach (the coach of the US Women’s iQFOiL Squad) lives in Cozumel so we were greeted at the airport and went straight to the beach. The first week of training in Cozumel was amazing. We had great conditions and were able to improve on a lot of skills. We focused mainly on pumping and tacks. Pumping is a motion that moves the sail and foil to generate more power and hence, more speed. It is super important at the start of a race, since if you don’t pump efficiently, you will likely be passed. Tacks are when you are turning upwind and switching sides of the sail. Within the last year, people have managed to tack without the board touching the water (appropriately called a foiling tack) and we were working on honing this skill. Although none of us have landed a foil tack, we got much closer with significantly less time when the board is contacting the water (a video of me attempting a foil tack is below). Very few women across the international iQFOiL fleet are foil tacking in racing, but practicing them improves the more consistent, racing option, making it a crucial skill.
We sailed for 8 days in a row (a typical training block without a rest day is usually 4 days!), so we took a much needed two-day rest break. When we are in new places it’s hard to truly rest so one day we went on a snorkeling tour and saw a bunch of gorgeous fish, a huge stingray, and a shark! The next day we took a ferry to Mexico’s mainland and went to Xplor, a nature-based theme park. The park is based around a cenote, and you can swim and raft through it! We were also able to zipline which was super fun! I really love trying to explore wherever I am training and being able to immerse myself in the nature of the area for those two days was amazing.
After the two rest days, it was back to windsurf training. Unfortunately, the weather had other plans. There was a tropical depression moving south through the Gulf of Mexico (a very unusual feat) which was disrupting the typical weather patterns on Cozumel. This meant the rest of the camp was all about trying to find wind. Most days we were sailing in wind generated by storms (as storms approach, wind flows out from the storm clouds) which made for short sessions before the storm actually hit. We made the most of pretty much every minute there was breeze, but we also couldn’t sail as much as we would’ve liked. We continued working on tacks and worked a lot on slalom starts.
The day before we were supposed to leave the island, we got an amazing opportunity to swim with whale sharks. Since the storms were severely limiting our ability to sail, our coach granted us a day off to take advantage of a once in a lifetime opportunity. Swimming with massive whale sharks was absolutely breathtaking and was a small insight into the crazy wildlife in the waters I sail in. It was the perfect way to wrap up an amazing training camp in Cozumel, which included lots of learning and immersion in nature.
After the two-week camp in Cozumel, it was time for another quick trip back home. Once again, I kept very busy with friends and family. I biked a lot, was able to get a few windsurfing sessions in, and went to my home gym (nothing better than a familiar gym!). Now I’m off on 2.5 months of traveling over the summer! First stop- Bristol, Rhode Island!
