This is one of the most common questions I’ve heard recently, particularly from teams who plan on staying domestic through the spring and into the summer. Whether you are still in school and looking to make the most of your time in the 49er this spring and summer, or considering whether to head to Europe this summer, here are some thoughts to help you make the best plan for your training as we head into the summer.
Structuring Your Training Blocks
When you’re starting out on your 49er journey, your priority should be maximizing hours on the water to build up the foundational skills that contribute to success on the race course. Time by yourself is extremely valuable in the beginning, because it allows you to slow things down, take the time to pay attention to the details, and work on the boring skills that will pay dividends later. Injecting some time around other boats can make training more fun, and racing will allow you to benchmark your skills. Incorporating parts of all three of these approaches into your training this summer will be critical to maximizing productivity on the water. Here’s how that might look.
Time By Yourself
Successful teams build structured training blocks, breaking down their sessions into specific skill development areas:
Boat Handling Drills: 49ers are unforgiving. The more polished your maneuvers—tacks, gybes, and mark roundings—the more competitive you’ll be. Dedicate time to high-rep, high-pressure drills that simulate race conditions. This should be your primary focus early on, and it doesn’t require any other boats on the water.
Downspeed Boat Handling: Spend time by yourself learning to sit next to a mark. Work on Around The Mark Without Tacking drill, work on double tacking, work on switching from forward to backwards flow and the other way around. These skills will pay dividends near other boats.
TRain With Other Boats
Training with other boats will keep things fresh and fun. Maximize this time by working on speed, and when possible, applying pressure to your boat handling skills. If you have other boats around, find boat handling drills that force you to get your maneuvers done in a specific timeframe. Learn to lee-bow, tack to cover, duck and set under pressure. Sneak a little bit of speed work in every time you can line up with other boats.
Racing Opportunities this summer
Checking in with the fleet is not only important from a skill development standpoint, but it’s also the fun part, so I recommend that every team at any level organize their summers around a regatta schedule. Start by identifying your peak event for the summer and work backwards from there.
This summer, I think that there are probably three events that span the full spectrum of needs for teams as far as targeting peak events:
Long Beach OCR: For teams who will exclusively stay domestic, the Long Beach OCR / 49er North Americans should be the peak event of the season. This will be your opportunity to line up with international competition who will be in Long Beach to start learning the venue for 2028. I expect to see quite a bit of training before and after this event, so be sure to connect with the fleet on WhatsApp to see what is going on.
Junior Worlds: This summer the Junior Worlds will be in Copenhagen in late July/early August, and will be an ideal peak event for those who can attend. The level of competition at the top of the fleet will be quite high, but but the depth won’t be nearly as strong as most open international regattas. This provides a great environment to benchmark your skills and see where the bar is internationally.
Open Worlds: Top teams will plan on peaking this year at the 49er Worlds in Italy in October. This will be the pinnacle of racing for the year, and if you’re reading this article, chances are, you shouldn’t be planning on using this as a peak event!
Final Thoughts
Overall, I think that California will be the main training hub in the United States this summer, and I expect to see this become more pronounced in the next three years. Organizing your summer around a peak event will give the summer more structure, and give you a benchmark opportunity, but regardless of your peak event, be sure to plan periods of training by yourself to maximize hours on the water, and training with other boats to focus on skills that are hard to practice by yourself.