Ron’s pandemic sailing story

Allow me to share my pandemic story: Not far from where I live near Seattle is a place called Orcas Island, home to dozens of amazing sailors of all ages. We have just one Dragon here, and lots of other one-design boats. Here, everyone pitches in to make sailing fun and easy. Sailing is important to these people and their families, so they quickly figured out how to do it safely by limiting it to families or those they quarantine with, and they encouraged double-handed racing (DH) too. This local blend of family-oriented sailing and DH racing was an overnight huge hit. Lots of great husband/wife and parent/kid teams began trying it out and quickly realised how much more fun and challenging sailing short-handed can be. Add in a bit of coaching, and suddenly you have an inspired group of talented sailors learning so fast and having so much fun they can hardly wait to get back on the water to continue improving together. Since this pandemic began, I’ve been fortunate enough to have been sailing a few days each week for months now, and I must say how great it is to be a few kilos lighter, stronger, and to be ‘sailing fit.’ It’s so nice to have all the smaller tendons and muscles in your legs and arms working in harmony supporting those typically larger muscles like biceps and quadriceps for all the pumping and hiking required to succeed at the higher levels of our sport. Best of all, any lingering back pain is now a thing of the past. It’s a great reminder that sailing itself is actually a great way to stay in fit, sailing shape.

Ron Rosenberg has a unique passion for sailing and coaching. As a sailor he’s won five world titles, two Gold Cups, and one European championship. He has more than 50 national titles in a wide variety of One-Design classes. Ron was elected Team Captain of the USA Olympic Sailing Team in Barcelona 1992. He has coached others to many more meaningful wins than he has achieved himself (including the recent back to back worlds wins in the Dragon class). He most enjoys helping others efficiently achieve the results and goals they set for themselves.