Sailboat Racing: New Challenges Bring Learning, Fun, and Joy
It’s great to work hard, figure things out, and find success. Imagine, you’ve sailed in the same class for a while, and you know the boat and the fleet well. At most regattas, you end up on the podium. How delightful and predictable: Keep racing in the same class, at the same events each year, and keep ending up doing well and feeling quite good about it.
But what if the hard work, process of figuring things out, and moving up a steep learning curve, rather than the results on a scoresheet, are a big part of what brings you joy? With the right mindset, moving from predictable to new challenges can be fun and rewarding.
Olympic medalist Lijia “Lily” Xu recently made such a move. While her outstanding career in the Laser Radial (now ILCA 6) included Olympic gold (London 2012) and bronze (Qingdao 2008) medals and a world championship win, she retired from Olympic sailing and looked for other ways to continue sailing. Lily recently stepped into match racing. It’s a big change from singlehanded fleet racing to match racing with a team.
“Over the last two years, I’ve tried all sorts of keelboats, catamarans, offshore, and such. I was doing media work for the World Match Race Tour final in Shenzhen, China, last year, and I got hooked instantly,” she explained.
“I was trying to see how I can compete because there are no match racing sailors in China. I didn’t know where to start until Liz Baylis [executive director of the Women’s International Match Racing Association] encouraged me to request an invitation to an event and to find some local crew to get going.”
Lily did just that, and she dove right into the deep end. She requested an invitation to compete in the second stop of the Women’s World Match Race Tour, the Santa Maria Cup, hosted by Eastport Yacht Club in Annapolis in June, and was accepted. She reached out to event organizers and pinned down a team of Annapolis-based sailors with J/22 and match racing experience.
Then, she worked on developing her match racing skills. Of course, sailors use regattas to grow their skills, but getting access to match race events can be as challenging as getting invited to regattas—especially those on the world tour with entry based on world rankings. But without competing in regattas, sailors can’t improve their ranking. A bit of a tough nut to crack!
“As much as I want to match race in full swing, training and racing full-time all year round would be difficult for several reasons,” Lily said. “So at the moment, on my own, I study all the materials I can find online, watch, read, understand, and train in my mind through visualizations. I’ve enrolled in the match race clinic at Oakcliff with two events alongside, which will be a boost for me after some proper learning and practice. I’ll just wait patiently to see which events I get invited to do and keep racing with local crews until I can find regular crew who are willing and happy to join me for the long-term.”
At Santa Maria Cup, not every match was a win, but every match was an opportunity to learn. Lily’s attitude toward sailing with a curiosity for learning sets her up well for long-term success.
“I’m not a person who cares about the results that much. Even during my three Olympic campaigns, ‘happy sailing’ weighed more than ‘champion.’ Because I know if I’m enjoying it, I’m ultimately in the flow zone and therefore likely to perform my very best,” she explained. “One of the benefits of me picking up match racing now is that I can use all the wisdom and philosophy I learned during my Olympic campaigns to help me become a better match racer.”
Lily achieved success in the Laser Radial by continually striving to grow skills and knowledge, and now she has set her sights on match racing. Moving from singlehanded sailing to team sailing will demand that a collaborative effort in that process, one that she’s eager to embrace.
“Obviously, I will work on communication and coordination, which I didn’t need to do in my past sailing experience. During the Santa Maria Cup my crew were are all very supportive to each other, whether win or lose. We talked through different scenarios, what could we have done, and how can we deal with it better next time. I love it!”
“I just want to keep learning and improving as a sailor, regardless of what results I get,” Lily emphasized. In sailing, she loves “freedom, (being) close to nature. And now sailing with like-minded crew makes the journey and joy even more pleasant!”
At the Santa Maria Cup, Lily and her crew sailed as Team Magenta Project.
“I was the ambassador for Team SCA during their all-women campaign for the 2014-15 Volvo Ocean Race. Once they finished the event, the girls wanted to keep the legacy and momentum for women’s sailing, so they set up Magenta Project and are trying to create more opportunities for female sailors,” she described. “I was a mentor for their mentorship program and helped a Canadian girl into her Olympic campaign. With the Magenta Project, you can learn, network, and give something back so that we can see more women in this big sailing community.”
To learn more about the Magenta Project, visit themagentaproject.org.
About the Author: Kim Couranz has earned several national and world titles in Laser Radials (ILCA 6), Snipes, and Lightnings. She has also raced J/22s, J/24s, and Ynglings on an international level.
