Posted By: Finn-Erik â_¢â_¢â_¢â_¢â_¢â_¢DATE: March 27, 2010

Last weekend Team Nilsen was at the Olympic training center in Colorado Springs, where we went through some intense physical testing and were lectured on sports psychology and nutrition. The Olympic training center was amazing, we had access to top level gyms and a free pass to an all you can eat buffet. The camp lasted 4 days (Thursday to Sunday), and it was 4 days of physical training, this training camp was dedicated to all of the stuff we don't do when we are on the water training (in other words their really wasn't any sailing involved in this training camp). This training camp was a very positive experience, we have learned a lot and have already applied what we learned to our physical training schedule during the week.

Posted By: Finn-Erik â_¢â_¢â_¢â_¢â_¢â_¢DATE: March 08, 2010

The Miami training camp last January was a informative and unusually cold experience for Team Nilsen. The camp started off with a pep talk from the main guy making this all happen Leandro Spina (US Sailing Coach), and then the camp went into many hours of on the water training in the Ocean off the coast of Miami. We did a laundry list of different drill’s and raced many practice races, and over the weekend Team Nilsen took advantage of all the training and the knowledge that was being given to us by our coaches. Not only did we take in as much information as we could but we also recognized our strengths and weaknesses and applied this knowledge to our practice schedule in order to eliminate our weaknesses.
In conclusion the Miami training camp was an ultimate success and a very good experience, we look forward to future training camps and the regattas that the summer will bring.
We are off to the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs in a couple of weeks and will report back.
Thanks Team Nilsen

Posted By: Finn-Erik â_¢â_¢â_¢â_¢â_¢â_¢DATE: December 07, 2009

Last weekend we attended the CISA Thanksgiving invite clinic at Alamitos Yacht Club, which was another 3 day weekend full of intense training. We also found time for some ultimate Frisbee on the beach waiting for the wind which is always good times. Once again we would like to thank the staff and coaches at CISA for putting together another great clinic. On a less positive note we have made a difficult decision and will not be attending the 2010 29er Worlds in the Bahamas. Many factors contributed to this decision, not the least of which was hard conflicts with school and timing issues, coming so soon after the July 2009 Worlds in Italy. We are currently finalizing our plans for our 29er 2010 campaign and looking forward to an exciting year of regattas and intense training.
As a note; Yesterday was the first of our local Richmond Yacht Club midwinter series. We had three races with eight 29er’s in some of the coldest racing conditions we can remember. The bitter weather conditions courtesy of an Arctic low coming down from the North. The racing was intense, we ended up with two bullets and an aggressive start in ebb tide putting us on the course side early in one race, but we battled back for a 4th. Big thank you to the Richmond Yacht Club Race committee for providing good racing in the cold conditions.

Posted By: Finn-Erik â_¢â_¢â_¢â_¢â_¢â_¢DATE: October 12, 2009

The recently completed 2009 US 29er Nationals hosted by the St. Francis Yacht Club was a great success as 25 teams from across the country made the trek to the City by the Bay to challenge themselves and the famous City Front Course on San Francisco Bay. The Bay did not disappoint them with 15-20 knots of wind on Saturday and Sunday with one of the biggest ebb tides of the year screaming out the gate at over 4.5 knots. Saturday was a day on the bay that gives the sailor bragging rights, as was the case at the club after the days racing. All you heard were “There We Were” stories throughout the club. This was completely understandable as all the teams experienced memory making situations provided by the Bay and the Famous City Front course. Many of the teams kept talking into the evening and at the class diner about the blazing speeds downwind approaching 25 knots and a few of the teams leaving the chase boats in their salty trails. As is a part of skiff sailing many teams found themselves providing some very spectacular crashes for the many spectators relaxing in the club having lunch or saying “Oh, did you see that, man these boats are great, what are they called!” and so it goes “Win or Swim” and “Fast is Fun” is what skiff sailing has that is unique to the sport. At the end of the regatta on Sunday the 29er fleet had only a few ripped sails and a lot of sore tired sailors with not one, not one protest filed for the weekend, which is a testament to the Corinthian sprit shown by the competitors. The Jury was in wait but no filings. As was mentioned throughout the weekend the St. Francis Yacht Club provided a top shelf regatta for the 29er Class which was appreciated by all. The final top five out of 25 standings were as follows:
1. Max Fraser & David Liebenberg - Richmond Yacht Club
2. Sterling Henken & Hans Henken - Coronado Yacht Club
3. JP Barns & Chris Rast - San Diego Yacht Club
4. Finn Nilsen & Alek Nilsen - St. Francis Yacht Club
5. Julia Paxton & Nina Malingri - Richmond Yacht Club
TeamNilsen wishes to thank the many volunteers and the host, the St. Francis Yacht Club for making the 2009 US 29er Nationals a record breaking and memorable event for all the participants and spectators which witnessed some of the finest Corinthian spirited sailing on the Bay.
Good On Ya 29er’s !

Posted By: Finn-Erik â_¢â_¢â_¢â_¢â_¢â_¢DATE: August 31, 2009

To our supporters, from Team Nilsen (Finn & Alek)

Our trip to Italy to participate in the 2009 29er Worlds was a crash course on how to prepare for and execute a world event. Given that this was our first world event, there was a lot to learn, especially since there were going to be 190 boats from 20+ different countries participating in this event. This eclipsed all previous worlds by almost 100 boats. This meant that we needed to get to the venue a week early to learn how the conditions work and what the competition was going to be like and get our charter boat teed up for the event. In this first week, we gathered all this information and developed a strategy so we could prepare for the unexpected. We did not have to wait very long for the unexpected as on the day we sailed for the first time on Lake Garda something was not right, as we started having trouble handling the boat and then started to capsize. We looked at each other trying to understand what was up. Then Alek looked at me and said “Finn, I remember this, I know what is wrong, we need to go in, we are sinking”. As soon as he said that I understood and sure enough when we got back to shore we had gallons of water in the boat. We did a quick recon and found that our new boat had a opening in the dagger board trunk that had not been sealed at the factory, it was the size of a nickel. We fixed it and we were good to go. When the regatta came around, there were plenty of other unexpected things that happened, such as people team racing you or protesting you for no reason so you would do a circle when you shouldn’t have too. Basically, this was a brand new form of racing that we needed to get used too. Thankfully due to our intense preparation for the regatta, we had great boat handling and boat speed, so we could outmaneuver anyone who tried team racing us. We also had a very fair knowledge of the rules, so if anyone who tried to trick us, we outsmarted them instead. But the one thing we did not have was the knowledge of maneuvering through large 54 boat fleets, as they broke the 190 participants into four groups. This made racing in this event very frustrating and very humbling. However, we learned quickly throughout the event, and by the end of the regatta we ended up in a very respectable 40th out of the 190 entries, which is decent given the circumstances and this being our first worlds. As one of the top 50 boats we will be required and happy to have the new sail number of “USA 40” for the next number of months. This is a honorary number based on our place in this event which is pretty cool. The competition was incredible as many of the top 49er teams from the 49er worlds, which was held the week prior also participated in the 29er worlds. Pretty much a who’s who in the 9er world. Through the qualifying and then the finals we felt very happy with our sailing as we had a fair number of single digit finishes which tells us that we can be with the best. We look forward to seeing many of our new friends at future events and to continue to push ourselves to the top. We had a great event, the experiences gained has provided us with great memories and new knowledge that will serve us well at future events.
We wish to thank you again for the opportunity through your support, which allowed us to participate in this epic event.

The link below is from a YouTube Highlight video on the event. About 15 seconds into the piece you will see a purple spinnaker cross the screen from right to left, that is Team Nilsen. This is a well done video and captured the event quite well, enjoy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQBsba1HqnU

Thank you again for your support of our efforts!

Posted By: Finn-Erik â_¢â_¢â_¢â_¢â_¢â_¢DATE: July 22, 2009

7-19-09
We finally got to sit down with Mr. Brotherton he’s a cool guy and he knows quite a bit about the lake and tactics in general. The lake is pretty easy to figure out. Usually there is one side that is favored and you pretty much go to that side. We didn’t do the practice race because we didn’t want to damage the boat, and we didn’t want to do well and have a target stamped on our backs the next day. So we just picked people to speed tune with in the racing, and observed what people were doing and how it worked. But the really good news is pretty much all the U.S. boats did well. Matt rounded the mark in first and was miles ahead of everybody. Tyler and Connor rounded in third followed by Ian and Mack. I am not sure how Max and David ended up, but they were using a jib that had no battens, and David literally rolled it up and folded and put it in his bag when he was packing. But the boat is all good and we are ready for this regatta. We will talk to you tomorrow after the racing.
Bye bye: Finn and Alek

7-20-09
Hi again, anyways there isn’t much to update since I already talked to you on Skype. But all I can say is Italy is pretty cool and we are starting to feel like locals. We are even riding our bikes like locals. But we are eating and sailing a lot, so we are probably going to be 8 pounds heavier and a couple shades tanner when we get back. Anyways we are relaxing and going over our game plan for tomorrow so we are able to get off the line cleanly and sail fast. But everything is going well; we are making a lot of new friends and learning a lot. Sailing a world event of this magnitude is completely different from anything we’ve sailed before. But we are adapting quickly and expect to bring our self’s up tomorrow and get ourselves into gold fleet.
Have a nice day Finn and Alek
7-21-09
Today wasn't a good day even though it got windy but it only got really windy in the first race and that was our best race. All our starts were great and we did very well getting off the line but we got into some stupid situations for example, at the leeward mark we got held over the lay line and when we got to the mark we were in 13th but then a boat capsizes on us and we tried to avoid it but then another boat came from leeward of us and we tried to avoid and we capsized so that’s why we did so bad that race and the other race the brand new jib sheet ripped and we lost 5 boats that way but it’s being dealt with now. Anyways it was a frustrating day and we are figuring out big fleet tactics and learning new moves and improving a lot so it’s all good, Alek is even keeping his cool on the race course until the end when the jib sheet ripped but that was at the end of the race and the last race of the day so it’s all good. Oh yah at the end of today Judge cut his finger and it is pretty deep but we don't know the verdict on that so talk to you soon, maybe later today, we are going to go eat. bye bye.
On to the Finals – Silver Fleet!

Posted By: Finn-Erik â_¢â_¢â_¢â_¢â_¢â_¢DATE: July 03, 2009

Prep. 29er Worlds
Well, so far we’ve been living on the city front off and on for past 3 to 4 weeks with a Dan Brant clinic out of Richmond in the middle of June. Alek and I have been doing nothing but sailing, working out, eating and we expect to keep doing this until we leave for Europe on the 8th of July. We will also have one weekend at Tinsley to break it up. The sailing conditions over this time period have been typical city front with 20-30+ winds and the clinic in Richmond was fun with varied conditions. The drill is to have a 3-4 hour intense sailing session than come in have something to eat and have a 1-1/2 hour session in the club workout room later in the day with a sauna and debrief. Next week we will be breaking in the equipment we plan to take to Garda so that we minimize the something new or to old issues. Our mentor Zach Berkowitz has been housing us and drilling us about preparation such as equipment and food etc... We also had the opportunity to sail in McCovey Cove for a test sail for the S.F. GIANTS a few weeks ago. This was fun as they put cameras on the boat and on shore, we even did a intentional crash for the GIANTS rep’s group. It was a bit weird doing an intentional crash! Prior to our 29er push we participated in the area G match racing event at the club in the beginning of June. Me and Alek, Ian Sims and a girl named Elli sailed the event with me as skipper. Alek and I practiced every Wed. and Friday from the beginning of April over in Tiburon at the Lane’s sailing center, as they put on very organized practices for anybody that wanted to come and sail the slow boats, J22’s. Liz Baylis along with many others like Genny Tulloch, Russ Silvestri, Craig Heally, Mark Ive, and a number of US Sailing umpires participated. This was great for really learning the rules and close quarter sailing. It was also fun to sail against these people. Flying a symmetrical spinnaker was also a learning experience. We are looking forward to compete in our first international world championship and to go to Europe for the first time, and we expect this to be a very fun and intense experience. We have reasonably high goals for our selves, but ultimately our goal is to get top 10 gold fleet and hopefully bring home some hardware. With 180+ boats currently registered we expect this to be an amazing experience. The plan is to leave and arrive in Geneva Switzerland and spend 3-4 days getting use to everything. We will be staying with relatives which will drive us to Garda and pick us up after the event. After the worlds we will spend a week in Switzerland before coming home.
That’s about it, so we look forward to seeing everybody at the 29er Worlds and we want to thank everybody for all the support of our campaign.
TEAM NILSEN
“Sail Fast”

Posted By: Finn-Erik â_¢â_¢â_¢â_¢â_¢â_¢DATE: April 13, 2009

Last week Team Nilsen attended CISA advanced racing clinic and it was another week of intense sailing and hard core training. Each day we’d start at 8 am and end at 8pm putting a full 12 hours dedicated to improving sailing skills and testing our physical stamina. And when race day came around we took all that we learned in the previous days and pulled out a 3rd place (which is cool). In short CISA has put on another fantastic clinic in warm sunny long beach, and special thanks goes to all who help organize and run CISA.

Posted By: Finn-Erik â_¢â_¢â_¢â_¢â_¢â_¢DATE: March 19, 2009

The Spring Dinghy was cold wet and very challenging as the westerly was fighting with the southerly fronts that were in the area. On Saturday the westerly was dominating with steady 14-18 with periods of 20-22 knots in a building flood. We had a good day until the spinnaker blew up on the final race. That race was thrown out because the rest of the fleet did not sail the correct course. In talking to everybody, they said it was so cold by that point they were not thinking straight. Sunday brought lighter conditions in the 12 knot range with southerly’s fighting with the westerly. First time in many, many years that the race committee set a course from Alcatraz to a windward mark in front of the St. Francis by the “A” buoy. After the first race they moved the course starting line closer to the traditional location off fort Mason and the windward marks off Crissy Field for the final 2 races. Very shifty with lulls and southerly cats paws and the wind building too 12-15 knots and puffy by the end of the day. We pulled out a 2nd the first race and then two 3rds with the lead changing between the top 4 throughout the races on Sunday and finishes within a few seconds of each other. We came out of the regatta with a 3rd behind Kristin Lane with Matt Noble and Max Fraser with Pete Spaulding. The Heinekens, Paul and Erica had moments of brilliance with getting to the windward mark first in a couple of races followed by confrontations with 505’s resulting in swimming. The 29er fleet had 7 entries with JP Barns and crew making the trip from southern California for the regatta. All in all a good tune up for the season. We are looking forward to warmer conditions as it was snow cold on Saturday.

Posted By: Finn-Erik â_¢â_¢â_¢â_¢â_¢â_¢DATE: January 05, 2009

Yesterday was the Richmond midwinters, and a decent day of sailing. It was good but boring to get back into lighter air. And we had a pretty good battle with Max Fraser and David Liebenberg for 1st place finishes. Over all it was a good day and would like to thank Richmond Yacht Club for doing a fine job at race committee.

Posted By: Finn-Erik â_¢â_¢â_¢â_¢â_¢â_¢DATE: November 20, 2008

Currently Team Nilsen is moving towards setting goals and making schedules for the up and coming 2009 sailing season. After a successful and rewarding 2008 campaign we look forward to an even more successful 2009 campaign.