Squeezing everything out of 2024

While Ali ten Hove (Kingston, Ont) and Mariah Millen (Toronto, Ont) came up three points short of winning the gold medal at the 2023 Pan Am Games, they did successfully qualify Canada for the Women’s Skiff (49erFX) event at the Paris 2024 Olympics.

But their work is far from done, as another Canadian skiff team is pushing them hard, and the international level keeps rising. It is a strong event for the nation, with this report coming from the Pan Am silver medalists:

After returning from Algeroboo, Chile (Pan Am Games), we had a quick turnaround to get back to Europe, get our equipment and start training again. It had been quite some time since we were back sailing with teams from overseas so we were keen to get back to work!

We joke that there are few places in the northern hemisphere that are harder to get to than Lanzarote (in the Canary Islands off Africa), but the conditions here are too good to miss. Mariah picked up our gear from Vilamoura (Portugal) and made her way to Huelva (Spain) where she took the ferry.

This 28-hour ferry, although long and often rough is the only way to get our gear over to the Canary Islands … but can be a great way to catch up on some sleep!

While Mariah was heading over on the ferry, Ali flew over with the equipment we had back in Canada. Mariah arrived at the port only 30 minutes before Ali landed so she could pick her up from the airport before driving straight to Playa Blanca where the marina is.

This was our first training camp working with the Spanish and Kiwis. It was an 8-day block filled with high intensity shorter sessions that covered racing tactics, starting, lineups and maneuvers.

We really wanted to treat each day and drill as if it were the most important regatta of the year. We are both highly competitive individuals by nature, but when you break down your training into smaller goals, it’s easy to let your foot of the gas a bit and become a bit complacent.

We work so hard to get over to Europe and train, and with massive goals for this year, we want to get the most out of each training day so we’ve been experimenting with intensity. It has had such a positive impact on us and we have made a focus to change the way we train to achieve this.

We headed to Barcelona to meet Isabella Bertold, Ben Rosenberg, and Andrew Wood to learn about the Women’s America’s Cup, Team Canada, and compete in the simulator trials.

One of the only ways to replicate the actual AC 40 and crew positioning is using a simulator. We only had a few days in Barcelona, so we learned to trim and helm from 10-6 each day. We practiced sailing and working closely with Georgia and Antonia Lewin-LaFrance to get the hang of leeward and windward trimmers and drivers. We finished the simulator work with trials where we were evaluated on what we had learned and how effectively we could sail under pressure.

The Women’s and Youth America’s Cup will take place on the AC 40 in October and is something that we hope to be involved in. We are excited to see who will be selected and hope we can have some involvement in the Canadian team!

We have one more intensive training block in Lanzarote before heading home for the holidays. We will focus more on speed and sailing technique before finishing off the block with a regatta run by the coaches. We are excited to squeeze everything out of the rest of the year before 2024!

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Paris 2024 Olympic Sailing Program*:
Men’s One Person Dinghy – ILCA 7 (41)
Women’s One Person Dinghy – ILCA 6 (41)
Mixed Two Person Dinghy – 470 (19)
Men’s Skiff – 49er (20)
Women’s Skiff – 49erFX (20)
Men’s Kiteboard – Formula Kite Class (20)
Women’s Kiteboard – Formula Kite Class (20)
Men’s Windsurfing – iQFoil (24)
Women’s Windsurfing – iQFoil (24)
Mixed Multihull – Nacra 17 (19)
* Quota per event in parenthesis but does not include Universality Places (2 men, 2 women)

Venue: Marseille, France
Dates: July 28-August 9

Details:
• Paris website: https://www.paris2024.org/en/the-olympic-games-paris-2024/
• World Sailing microsite: https://paris2024.sailing.org/