Hello again from my second home – Qingdao, China.

The team arrived in Qingdao last Sunday after 30 hours of travelling. A long day, but nonetheless great to be back to work.

Since our last training camp in June, it sure has become a lot more humid and a bit warmer (I cooked two eggs on the asphalt next to our Star in the boat park today!). Rodney Hagebols, Hans Wallen, JD and I have been working non-stop since we arrived. We are here again with our training partners Marc Pickel and Ingo Borkowski. They are being coached by Mark Reynolds. It’s been great training with them. We are all really good friends and we push each other on the water, while off the water we press each other’s buttons for a bit of fun, always at someone else’s expense. This is usually good for at least 20 minutes of straight laughter.

We have a few new quotes this week that have stuck with us. My all time favorites are:

“Look at me when you speak to me”— JD3
“Diet Coke WITH ice”— JD3
“RODDNEEEEYYYY”— JD3 has perfected it with his southern drawl….
“Dude, du-de, de-dude dude dude” — Austin (the guys tell me when I see them screw something up I let out multiple dudes in one breath!)

A quick note about what we have been doing.

Testing, more testing and yes some more testing. But the good news is that we’ve finished testing and from this afternoon until this camp ends in a week, all we will be doing is racing. Time and dIstance, rounding marks, starts, match racing situations, gybing, tacking etc. Basics 101. It’s funny how you can get so wrapped up with testing sometimes you lose sight of the big picture. Remember, it’s a boat race and if we can’t execute the basics we’re already in a hole before the big show begins.

July 15th was John Dane III’s 58th birthday. We had a big night in Qingdao. We had a great dinner with the team at our standard restaurant DaVinci, from there we headed down to the club (which is also in the same hotel) where a bunch of sailors from other nations joined in on the celebration. An epic night! Just think about it, a guy who’s 58 is going to his first Olympics…pretty impressive.

I will be heading to team processing in San Jose, California on July 24th-25th. This is where JD and I hook up with other Olympians to get our USA team gear and fitted for our opening ceremony outfits. I read today that we will get Olympic Rings (for your finger, but I will also be getting my Olympic rings tattoo while I am in San Francisco. I still dont know where I will put it, most likely on my arm, but I am running out of room – sorry Mom). We have an option to take the standard ring which is free or you can upgrade to a more Super Bowl bling style. You guessed it, I am going for the bling!

I am really looking forward to it. This is an experience that I will never forget and have a hard time putting into words.

Austin


PS. Sally, honey I miss you and it’s almost over…