After an extremely successful 2 year stint together during the 2020 quadrennium, finishing as the top American team and in their best performance ever at their final World Championship, Sarah and David have announced their intention to continue to take their program toward the Paris Games
In their own words:
“Dear Supporters, Family, Friends…
14th at the 2020 World Championship, and top American team in 2020! Geelong was a great venue to race in... although quite weedy! Cleaning the seaweed off the foils became a huge part of racing, as you can see in the photo here!
We came close to making the medal race, but left a few too many points on the table in the last two races to lock it in. We sailed the 2020 World Championship event with enough consistency that we can say that top ten was within arms reach.
What an improvement in just a few months of hard work! This is not an achievement that we are taking lightly. Unfortunately, we were unable to close the 9 point gap between us and our American teammates. We may have come out “on top” at this Worlds, but our performance in Auckland in 2019 sealed the deal, and we are very disappointed to share that we will not be your 2020 Olympic Team.
However, we are SO proud of what we accomplished this quadrennium. Two years of sailing together and we have transformed from a top 25 team to a top 15 team in the world. We get to race with some of the fiercest competitors around, in a class helping to change the landscape of our sport by facilitating a gender equal platform for athletes.
As people, we have grown beyond our greatest dreams. I am not sure I knew what being a teammate was until I met David Liebenberg. He has pushed me to work harder every day. Dave has seen the best in me, and has always found a way to help me get closer to it. It has been my privilege to work with and learn from him.
We have surrounded ourselves with a top notch support system (incredible sponsor The Kolter Group, coach Sally Barkow, an amazing performance coach/ sports psych, and our trainer Mike Kuschner at SPT), and have built a program that we are proud of.
We are happy to share that we will continue to see this program through over the coming years...
Over the next year we will train with the US Olympic Team to facilitate their success at the 2020 Games this summer, continue to race in the Olympic circuit events (next up, Hyeres!), train in the USA, mini-campaign in the A-Class as each others’ training partners, work in some coaching of aspiring Olympians, and spend some much needed time with our families.
We cannot express how grateful we have been for your support and love over the last two years, and we are thrilled to be able to continue to be YOUR team as time marches on… THANK YOU and stay tuned to this page for continued updates!
We would also like to send out a big thank you to our sponsor, The Kolter Group, for all they have done for us this quad. We have been so proud to represent Kolter.
Thank you also to our other sponsors: Hyatt, Kilroy, Moore & Co., Harken, Marlow, Helly Hansen, The Richmond Yacht Club Sailing Foundation, St. Francis Sailing Foundation and the US Sailing Team. We could not have done this without you!
LOVE,
Sarah and David
Check out some video of our best racing here! https://www.sail-world.com/news/226523/49er-49er-FX-and-Nacra-17-Worlds-Day-4
What a week at the Nacra 17 Europeans! 24th overall. Four days in conditions that showed our weaknesses and we still ground our way into Gold fleet. Tough racing with the best Nacra sailors in the world followed. We found our speed again in the moderate, flatter conditions of the last two days and raced a Gold fleet series that we are so proud of - top tens, some killer starts, pace on top teams, and downwind performance. We moved forward in the scores and closed a large point gap on boats ahead of us. Most importantly we met many smaller process goals of routine, psychology, setup, and preparation. Yesterday we packed Belle Starr up in a container to Japan, and now we head back to the states for some intensive training with the squad for the next few months - gotta tackle that seastate and breeze speed and come back stronger! Thank you for your support! We are lucky to represent you, and excited to report that the team has the momentum it needs to keep climbing the mountain... onward and upward! 🙂
Sarah Newberry We’ve been out training in Long Beach, California, for the last two months. Lots of improvements with great coaching by Sally Barkow, Jay Glaser, and Phil Muller. 3 hours or more a day in the consistent conditions of Long Beach has been champagne sailing.
After Euros ended we were excited to get out to the west coast and start training with the other US teams. Luckily this foil case and these sails made it all the way there safe and sound!
Once we landed we got to work setting up the boat and settling in to Alamitos Bay Yacht Club. ABYC and their membership welcomed us and made it easy to be away from home and training in such a great venue all summer.
The first part of our training camp we had Phil Muller come work with us. We focused on building team culture, communication, and identifying what each team needed to work on to get to the next level. We had great breeze every day and made fast progress.
Next, Jay Glaser spent a few weeks with us working on technical and performance details. Finally, Sally Barkow stepped in as our new squad coach and brought years of racing and campaigning expertise to the team.
Olympix Fitness turned into our gym home away from home, and we found everything we needed to keep getting stronger. Thanks to Mike at SPT Fitness for keeping us supplied with awesome workouts all summer!
Lisa Meier, Howie Hamlin, and Jay and Pease Glaser provided us beds to sleep in and all the support of a family. We had countless team dinners and meetings at their homes. Because of their hospitality we were able to focus on getting the work done!
We focused on skill building in seastate, breeze, and foiling up and downwind. A basic schedule for a training day in Long Beach looked like this:
7:00 AM - Wake up, breakfast (Dave makes the best breakfast)
8:30-10:00 - Gym at Olympix Fitness
10:15 - If we have time I grab an acai bowl or protein shake at Portfolio Fit, which is a cafe attached to the gym.
10:35 - Arrive at the boat park or do office work from the cafe
11:30 - Meet with the whole Nacra team and coach and review video
12:30 - Rig and eat lunch
1:00 - Launch and head out on the water (inside or outside the breakwall depending on the day)
5:00 PM - Arrive back at the dock
5:45 - Debrief by the fire pit at ABYC and eat second or leftover lunch to refuel
7:00 - Debrief over, head back to the closest house (usually Lisa’s!) to review on-board camera footage (just Dave and Sarah)
8:00 - Dinner while we video review
9:30-10:00 - Head home, talk to our hosts, and shower and get in bed!
Repeat!
It’s been a great summer and we’re proud of the progress we’ve made so far and feel lucky to be sailing in such a fantastic venue. Stay tuned for more!
Sarah Newberry Here are some awesome video clips from the last few months that we wanted to share with you. Video round up time! Let’s get this rodeo started…
Sarah Newberry 
The beginning of an Olympic campaign requires a lot of dedication and legwork, and we thought we'd share a little insight into the process with you!
In the next few paragraphs we've shared a few quick facts about starting a new Olympic campaign. We wonder if its the same in other sports, and would love to hear from other Olympic athletes who can relate.
In the Beginning: Two important general themes need to be tackled. Number one: raise funds and organize logistics to train/compete. Number two: Train (the right things at the right time) and compete with the right teams or coaches around us. Some skills are easier to build more quickly than others, so choosing what to focus on is really important when you have a limited number of days to accomplish your goals. Our timeline has been roughly 950 days long (from day 1)
Your Resources: At the beginning of a campaign there are a lot of things you don't have the luxury of doing. Usually this is related to funds and performance. Limited funds = discretion and selectivity. Performance (takes lots of days of leg work) = outside support, confidence, determines equipment focal points, and creates mile markers of progress that you can use to develop more performance goals. Example: taking a brand new program abroad for a month with a full time coach is sometimes a wasted expense - it might not actually offer the kind of return in performance you expect for the cost. On the other hand, there will be opportunities in training/coaching not to be missed... because the return on investment (in performance) is high! The budget is sacred, and what we choose to do in the coming months makes a big impact on how we feel and perform as a team. We feel confident and excited about how our experience has guided the planning process so far, but there is more to do! No pressure right??
Monthly Breakdown: As of today we have been a team for just over two months! In January we sailed 19 days, did 10 days of boat work, and coached 2 days. In February we sailed 10 days, did 12 days of boat and fundraising work, and coached 6 days. This month there is much more sailing and work in store to get the show on the road in Europe in May.
Daily Schedule: A normal day with one session in the afternoon looks something like this for us:
6:30AM - Alarm goes off
7:00 - Coffee/breakfast
7:30 - Head to the gym
8:00-10:00 - Gym
10:15-11:30 - Review video and plan for the day, return emails, work on logistics, lunch.
11:30-12:30 - Rigging
12:30 - Time to go flying!
3:30/4 - Hit the dock, derig and dress.
4:30 - Boat work if any. Usually there is something to be done... it wouldn't be a sailboat if this wasn't true.
5:30 - Head to debrief
5:30-6:30 - Debrief (usually looks a lot like this, as David explains theories on the foils)
7:15 - Dinner
8:30-10:00 - Home and the main personal time we get each day. Usually a good time to use the foam roller :)
10:00 - Bed time!
We've been hitting the water and gym pretty hard here in Miami. Each day is a mission, and we are learning so much. Excited for the wake up call tomorrow - we have an early flight to catch... also known as a morning session on the Nacra 17!
Learn more about our campaign at USAMULTIHULL2020.com
