What Oakcliff has been and will continue to do to help Olympic Hopefuls
by Oakcliff Sailing 17 Mar 2023 18:40 UTC
What Oakcliff has been and will continue to do to help Olympic Hopefuls © Oakcliff Sailing
From 'here' to the Olympics
How do you get from 'here' to 'there'? Before Project Pinnacle, we asked the important people, the Athletes!
Oakcliff surveyed a wide range of athletes, current, hopeful and past Olympic campaigners as well as coaches and professionals. We then held focus groups to develop a true pathway, considering all aspects of a campaign. This resulted in the Oakcliff Olympic Helix. The graphic is shared below and supporting documentation can be found on or web site. This is designed to help decision-makers (read as the athletes and their parents) move towards their goals, while being smart with resources include time and money, with time being the finite factor. We offer this to everyone.
We are also happy to answer any questions and receive any quality feedback to update and improve the Oakcliff Olympic Helix.
More information here
Triple Crown
Since 2014 - Oakcliff has awarded $1.2 million dollars in prize grants to Olympic hopefuls through the Triple Crown Regatta. This was the brainchild of Hunt Lawrence, who correctly identified that winning races isn't subjective; therefore, prize grants are awarded each year based on performance.
The grants are restricted to mission-critical expenses such as coaching, travel to regattas, boat insurance, and a per-Diem of $35/day for food when away from home.
With the current disruption at US Sailing, we are actively strengthening the structure to help athletes help themselves. For instance, coaching fees will only be reimbursed when there are at least 3 teams on the water. Practicing by yourself is great if you are learning... to roll tack! At this level you must have other quality teams next to you to gauge performance and hopefully leapfrog each other to improve.
The Triple Crown classes are traditionally 49er, 49erFx, Nacra 17 and 470s. We will add ILCAs if there is demand. As long as we have 6 boats in a fleet we will run a race; if we have 8 or more, there is a full prize grant pool. On-site, we have 8-49ers, 8-49erFx, 6-Nacra 17s, 18 470's and 18 ILCAs. They can be chartered for both racing and training. The dates for 2023 are September 23-24 and September 30-October 1, with on-site training for the week in between.
We are also working with other clubs to try to add to this circuit. Anyone who would like to help increase the schedule by hosting an event or just donating to our prize-grant pool please email or call me on my cell 415-760-7642
Triple Crown Documents
Acorn Training Camps
Fifteen years old? Know exactly what you want to do with your life? No? Good! This is the time to explore, experiment, have fun and discover your passion.
Oakcliff fills the gap from junior sailing to Olympic Development and beyond. In this role we've seen Opti parent, their sailors and their pocketbooks become burnout with the pressure of private travel teams. Advice: keep the fun and study the Helix to try to prevent this.
At this age, some (especially girls) are told they are 'too big/tall etc.' to be world-class Opti sailors and are not allowed on travel teams. Advice: If this is you or your child, be patient! This sailor can become an excellent skiff, cat, ILCA, offshore or match racing sailor.
Please do not let anyone tell a 5' 7" 160lb. 13 year-old girl she is 'too big' to be successful; send her to Oakcliff!
We will be running two High Performance Acorn camps this summer and will add as many as there is demand for.
Need-based scholarships are always available at Oakcliff.
High Performance Acorn Camp