TEAM OCEANA VIVO HAS SECURED THEIR FIRST EVENT WIN!
We are over the moon with this result and are stoked to have qualified for the grand final - this is huge for us and was definitely unexpected! Despite this achievement, the team has got bigger goals and this win is just a great step in the right direction.
A week before the Torbole event, the team travelled to Lake Garda for another training block. We were becoming more settled as a team, with Sophie and Hebe solidifying their skills as flight controller (the role at the front of the boat), myself swapping between main trimmer and helm (two roles that require very different mindsets), and coaches Cas and Scipio swapping between helm and main trimmer.
This was one of the most fun and productive training blocks we have had to date. The mindset in this team is amazing – it is one of pure growth, with no stone left unturned. And it is always great to work with such wonderful people. By the end of the training block I’d taken on so much information that my brain didn't feel like I could absorb much more! However, all of that knowledge was completely necessary for the week to come.
This would be the first Youth Foiling Gold Cup that Oceana Vivo would compete in this year, lining up with 15 other teams (some of which are very polished: the Luna Rossa Youth teams, Groupe Atlantic, and other Youth Americas cup team sailors). Our goals for the week were to keep a learning mindset, and to qualify into the gold fleet (the top 6 boats after 5 days of racing). We knew that reaching gold fleet would be tough, but focused on doing the right things and continuously improving.
After day 1 on the water we felt electric. We'd had some okay results but we felt like we were only performing at 50%. After some debriefs we decided that the main issue to work on was our starts. As the helm, I set my goals for the next day, mostly focused on positioning at the start and keeping things clear. This process-based mindset allowed for a week of huge improvement.
Day 3 changed everything. Not in terms of our process, but on the water things started to click for us. We won 2 out of 3 races that day and knew we had the potential to achieve something special.
After 56 well-battled races, the 5 days of qualifying came to an end. Achieving one of our event goals, we had made it through into Gold Fleet. This meant a fresh start, points completely reset, and we knew that as a team we just had to stay consistent.
The Saturday provided quite strange conditions on the race course, with big gusts and lulls, big shifts and large chop towards the end of the day. We delivered a 1,1,2,4,5 which wasn’t super consistent but was enough to land us in joint 1st place due to a fairplay bonus for not breaking any rules. My favourite moment from that day was coming into the finish, neck and neck with Groupe Atlantic, we had the inside line and were able to hold them up, slow them down and cross the line a few seconds before them. It was an intense moment at the end of the day but also so much fun crossing the line at 30MPH!
The final day of the event was a write off, the wind never showed up. This meant that we finished the event in 1st place! It's my first time being on the podium in this class and it felt amazing, knowing that all our hard work had paid off in that moment. We took some time to celebrate and enjoy the feeling but we're all aware that the job's not done yet!
A couple of huge thank yous to the team: Cas and Scipio, I’m so proud of the work you've done, we wouldn’t have been able to do this without you; to Sophie and Hebe who have been so focused and really pushed each other to achieve within a short period of time; finally to my parents and the team behind the scenes making it all possible!
Thank you to the 69F family for another fantastic event. Onto the Grand final we go...
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