By Margaret Boehm
The second time was the charm for Chicagoan and Team USA member Bob Willis. After not making the U.S Olympic Team in 2008, Willis changed his training style and went full-throttle into his campaign for the London 2012 Olympics. After three long years of training, Willis was named a member of Team USA and will be competing in the RS:X division. This is part one of a two part-interview. Stayed tuned for Part 2 where Willis offers reflections on his junior sailing years and offers advice for Olympic hopefuls!
Sail 1: How old we you when you started sailing?
BW: I started sailing when I was eight years old out of the Columbia Yacht Club in Chicago
Sail 1: What was the first type of boat you learned to sail?
BW: As with most young sailors I started sailing and competing in the Opti. I raced them until I was about 12 years old but grew out of it quickly as I was pretty tall. Following my short opti career I progressed into the 420 when I was about 13 years old and sailed that boat throughout the remainder of junior sailing
Sail 1: How long did you race on a junior team and what type of boat did you race?
BW: I started competing on the race team at the Columbia YC in optis when I was about 10. It was perfect, because my older brother Jess was also on the team; therefore, it was really easy for me to travel as he would look after me and make sure I didn’t get into too much trouble!
I started racing 420s on the same team with Jamie Shepherd when I was 13. We had some great results toward the end of our junior sailing career finishing 5th/100 at the 2005 Orange Bowl regatta and 4th/170 at the 2005 North Americans. I raced 420s until I was 18 and continued to compete in them through college sailing.
Sail 1: Why did you decide to pursue a future in the RS:X division?
BW: I got into windsurfing when I was a teenager and really enjoyed it. It was fast, physical, very dynamic and challenging. I picked up racing windsurfers casually as I thought I would be OK at because I had sailing background. Racing windsurfers is sailing; however, it is a completely different game then traditional sailboat racing and I am still trying to figure it all out. What really attracted me to racing windsurfers was exactly that – a slightly different form of sailing that is incredibly physical, fast and in my mind, the most exciting form of sailing.
Sail 1: At what point in your RS:X training did you decide you wanted to go the Olympics?
BW: Olympic aspirations have been on my mind for a while. Ever since I sailed 420s, the thought of going to the Olympics excited me. I suppose it really became engrained when I went to Athens to watch my now ex-brother in law, Peter Spaulding, compete in the 49er. Experiencing “Olympism” first hand as a young sailor was incredibly eye opening and motivational.
I chose to pursue an RS:X campaign because I got into windsurfing when was starting to get very serious about my sailing and ISAF chose the RSX for the 2008 games and that board really excited me. It is also a very cheap class to compete in; therefore the amount of capital I needed to start the campaign was very small in comparison to a 470 or a 49er. It was easy to start the process.
Sail 1: Are there any differences between your 2008 campaign and 2012? Training style? Diet? Fitness regime?
BW: I would say the biggest difference is how I have approached my fitness program and my training partners. In 2008, I was diligent about my fitness, but I was still young and my body was still developing – I didn’t have much of an endurance base and therefore could not push as hard. For 2012, I have been relentless with my fitness, primarily on the bike. Windsurfing is one of the few Olympic classes where fitness is absolutely imperative to be competitive. Fitness is not an added bonus, it is a necessity for us. If you are not fit – you will not have any good results, no questions asked. Once my fitness and strength began to improve in late 2010, my results followed.
My bike rides have been fairly rigorous. I always try to ride with people who are fitter than I am so they can push me. I really got into mountain biking last year when I was training in Weymouth with JP Tobin(NZL), Zac Plavsic(CAN) and Dorian (NED). They were so much faster and fitter than I was – but they pushed me hard and I got fit quickly. When I was in Chicago for a few months last fall, I was putting in 80 – 90 mile rides every Saturday – about 5.5 hours on the bike, in addition to another 60 – 100 miles during the week. That is about the volume of endurance training windsurfers are doing now – and I know most of the top windsurfers are doing that same amount of volume, if not more.
For 2012, my training partners have been really good. Currently I am training with a Norwegian sailor, Seb, and we work really well together and he pushes me very hard. We do a good job of makin
g the most out of our time on the water. We have very effective training sessions and we improve every time we are out on the board.
So, in all, the two biggest adjustments to my campaign this quad have been my fitness and strength and my training partners and clearly they have been positive adjustments.
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