After a couple weeks to regroup after an eventful and draining World Championship (18 races over 6 days), Bermuda’s Olympic bound sailors Jesse and Zander Kirkland are keen to get back in the 49er.
“We did manage to squeeze a few nice days in Rome (easily saturating our history thirst!) with our parents, before heading home, Jesse also pit-stopped at his old college, St Mary’s, to help their team prepare for ICSA Team Race Nationals,” said Zander Kirkland.
The pair will depart Bermuda on Monday, as they continue our push for London as we head to Weymouth for a month of training, which includes the Sail for Gold Regatta and the ‘Coaches Regatta’.
“The World was a tremendous event for us seeing us stamp our ticket to the Games with a 9th place finish. We were pleased we could continue improving after an incredibly productive month in Palma in March/April that saw its fruition in our 13th place. It was a confidence booster knowing that we have the pace to hang with the Worlds’ elite in <15knots. Also, the Worlds saw us gain our first experience into the Medal Race, which hopefully will benefit us down the road… All in all, we are ecstatic about the Worlds’ finish, but the mission is not over,” said Jesse Kirkland.
Zander Kirkland went on to say, “The goal remains London. There are certain facets of our sailing we can improve upon, and all qualifying did was give us more time. There is no room for contentment or complacency with our current level and we will be hungry to get better. We need to clock some more time in windy conditions between the facts that Weymouth can effortlessly RIP, and that we have been breeze starved most of our time in the Mediterranean this spring.”
Jesse Kirkland concluded, “We can also say, that Mark Asquith, ex-49er British Skandia team member has joined Team Bermuda as our coach. We are excited to get him on board with the island nation from Sail for Gold thru the Games.”
