Master Class With a 4x Olympic Medalist

by Paloma Arrigo
After winning the ILCA 6 Pacific Coast Championship last month, I had the opportunity to spend a week training at the International Sailing Academy Gold Medal Clinic in La Cruz, Mexico. The group included Master sailors and junior ILCA 6 sailors, and we were all there to learn from one of the best sailors in the world, Marit Bouwmeester, a 4-time Olympic medalist in the ILCA 6.

Honestly, it was one of those weeks that reminded me why I love sailing so much. The conditions were incredible. It was 86 degrees every day, the water was warm, and we had 18 knots of breeze almost every afternoon. Pretty hard to complain about that.

But obviously, the best part was getting coached by Marit. Learning from someone sailing at that level in person is completely different from seeing videos online. She notices every tiny detail, and you can immediately tell how much work goes into being that good. At the same time, she was super encouraging and easy to talk to, which made the whole experience even better. – Full report