Reaffirmation of Support
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Oakcliff, Oyster Bay and Olympic Hopefuls

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MARCH 13, 2023

Jo

This email is to assure our athletes that, to the best of our ability, Oakcliff, Windmark and the Lawrence Family will continue to support and provide programming and leadership in all areas of sailing, including Olympic and High Performance Sailing.   

We invite others who believe that Olympic Glory on the water is a worthy goal, to join us in directly supporting the athletes through the Triple Crown Prize Grant pool, a program that is already in place, or providing a program trainee with scholarship funding, or diving way into the 'mother of all solutions', which is presented in the last article in this newsletter.

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Getting to the Olympics is HARD work. It requires living and breathing sailing, in training, travel, competition, sponsorship and fundraising. It is not supposed to be easy.  It is the OLYMPICS!

It requires a complex and long-term commitment by all involved: athletes, families, coaches, donors and the critical volunteers and staff behind the efforts. It must be fueled by an unrelenting drive for perfection.  Yes, it does take money, but as Bill Koch's mantra for winning the America's Cup called out, it takes Teamwork, Talent and Technology (money is the base but not the special sauce). 

Oakcliff and Oyster Bay have been supporting High Performance sailing since the low medal count in 2012.  In 10 years we have invested in a fleet of 49ers, Fx, Nacra, 470s and ILCA (Lasers), built a high performance beach with utilities and workshops, invested in a support fleet, have awarded over 5 million in grants and support, to use primarily for travel and equipment.  This is in addition to the rest of the operations which train athletes in match racing, offshore sailing, and apprenticeship programs in shore skills, business and project management.

Our facilities include housing, meeting areas, a sail loft, composites and machine shops, as well as a specialized gym.  You are welcome to visit us in person or virtually.

Again, please read the entirety of this email for information we believe is useful, and we hope inspiring, and provides some direction for the future.

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From 'Here' to the Olympics

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How do you get from 'here' to 'there'?  Before Project Pinnacle, we asked the important people, the Athletes!

Oakcliff surveyed a wide range of athletes, current, hopeful and past Olympic campaigners as well as coaches and professionals. We then held focus groups to develop a true pathway, considering all aspects of a campaign. This resulted in the Oakcliff Olympic Helix. The graphic is shared below and supporting documentation can be found on or web site.  This is designed to help decision-makers (read as the athletes and their parents) move towards their goals, while being smart with resources include time and money, with time being the finite factor.  We offer this to everyone.

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We are also happy to answer any questions and receive any quality feedback to update and improve the Oakcliff Olympic Helix.

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Triple Crown 

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Since 2014 - Oakcliff has awarded $1.2 million dollars in prize grants to Olympic hopefuls through the Triple Crown Regatta.  This was the brainchild of Hunt Lawrence, who correctly identified that winning races isn't subjective; therefore, prize grants are awarded each year based on performance.

The grants are restricted to mission-critical expenses such as coaching, travel to regattas, boat insurance, and a per-Diem of $35/day for food when away from home.

With the current disruption at US Sailing, we are actively strengthening the structure to help athletes help themselves.  For instance,  coaching fees will only be reimbursed when there are at least 3 teams on the water.  Practicing by yourself is great if you are learning... to roll tack!  At this level you must have other quality teams next to you to gauge performance and hopefully leapfrog each other to improve.

The Triple Crown classes are traditionally 49er, 49erFx, Nacra 17 and 470s. We will add ILCAs if there is demand.  As long as we have 6 boats in a fleet we will run a race; if we have 8 or more, there is a full prize grant pool. On-site, we have 8-49ers, 8-49erFx, 6-Nacra 17s, 18 470's and 18 ILCAs. They can be chartered for both racing and training. The dates for 2023 are September 23-24 and September 30-October 1, with on-site training for the week in between.  

We are also working with other clubs to try to add to this circuit. Anyone who would like to help increase the schedule by hosting an event or just donating to our prize-grant pool please email or call me on my cell 415-760-7642

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Acorn Training Camps

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Fifteen years old? Know exactly what you want to do with your life?  No? Good!  This is the time to explore, experiment, have fun and discover your passion.  

Oakcliff fills the gap from junior sailing to Olympic Development and beyond. In this role we've seen Opti parent, their sailors and their pocketbooks become burnout with the pressure of private travel teams.  Advice: keep the fun and study the Helix to try to prevent this.

At this age, some (especially girls) are told they are 'too big/tall etc.' to be world-class Opti sailors and are not allowed on travel teams.  Advice: If this is you or your child, be patient!  This sailor can become an excellent skiff, cat, ILCA, offshore or match racing sailor.

Please do not let anyone tell a 5' 7" 160lb. 13 year-old girl she is 'too big' to be successful; send her to Oakcliff!

We will be running two High Performance Acorn camps this summer and will add as many as there is demand for.

Need-based scholarships are always available at Oakcliff.

Newsletter%20Spacer.pngA Primer on NGBs and USOPC

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  • US Sailing Association is the NGB (National Governing Body) for the sport of sailing in the US. As such, it is tasked by the IOC through the USOPC and World Sailing to represent American sailing in the Olympics and in all other aspects of our sport.  World Sailing also reports to the IOC. US Sailing and the Olympic process is also governed in the US by Congress and the Ted Stevens Sports Act. As the NGB, US Sailing is also required to manage the judges, rules, regulations etc., what we at Oakcliff colloquially call the 'DMV' side of the sport. 
  • The US Sailing Foundation is a charitable foundation for US Sailing. Three years ago, a well meaning and capable group of people came together to raise funds for America's Olympic Sailing program through the Foundation, and we thank them for their commitment to our country's athletes.
  • The simple fact is that it is not possible to split off the "Olympic aspects" of the sport from US Sailing and the US Sailing Foundation.

What Happened:

  • At about the same time, the US Sailing Association hired a new CEO and a new Olympic Director, who both reported directly to a 15-person volunteer board.  That is like having two helmspeople steering at the same time. Yes, we know that is the way they are doing it at American Magic, but there, the transition is well organized and well practiced with coaches and technology and data. In US Sailing's situation, the structure broke down.
  • Many who have served on non-profit boards have seen this movie before: (again, well meaning) volunteer board member(s) are frustrated and believe that it is "not that difficult" and "we can certainly take some time and get this ship back on course", and they place board members in as temporary staff in management, or fundraising, or as the CEO. I, personally, have never seen this work. US Sailing has stated that they are working as quickly as possible to hire senior staff to lead the Olympic side, and we believe they can not do this fast enough!

Current Situation:

  • The US Sailing Foundation board is getting smaller. The US Sailing Association Board is quite young (good) and inexperienced (not good), and they are trying to rebuild. 
  • The touted funds the Foundation has raised is a combination of funds received and pledges.  But per the GAAP  new "guidance"  you must record a pledge in the year it was received, whether you have the cash in hand or not. With the combined financials, it's a bit difficult to know which is which with the publicly available US Sailing Association 990s or the Foundation's 990s.
  • We encourage those who have pledged to continue to support the sailors, one way or another.  When you think about the athletes being both the reason and the product, the decision to support gets easier.

 

  • If you are still confused - think about the Athletes!

Newsletter%20Spacer.pngPast Current Future Oakcliff Support

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2012 The US did not win any medals.

2013 Hunt and Betsy Lawrence purchased 3 fleets of boats and opened the High Performance Beach to support US Sailing. Oakcliff hosted the first High Performance Regatta for 49er & Fx and the Nacra 17 (Nationals) attracting 41 teams! 

2014  Oakcliff started High Performance Acorn Training Camps and lent the fleet to US Sailing for Southern training.  

2015 & 2016  Oakcliff hosted the 49er, 49erFx and Nacra 17 Nationals both years and added the 470 Nationals in 2016.

2016 Every fleet in Rio was supported by Windmark with equipment and/or funds.  

2017 The Triple Crown was invented. Gender requirements were lifted for prize grants with sights set on 2024.

2018  With great excitement and optimism, and working with Malcolm Page Greg Fisher and others, Oakcliff created the Helix and added plans for more camps.

2019  Malcolm leaves US Sailing and Greg Fischer leaves shortly after.

2020-21   COVID brakes applied everywhere, but Oakcliff was still open for business with strict protocols, which resulted in no transmittals in the team; quite a feat with young people living in a bunkhouse. Triple Crown Regatta, with strict protocols in place, were held.  

2022  Training focused on 470 and 49er sailing as athletes started planning for the future.

2023 - The NGB starts over.  Oakcliff and Windmark strengthen commitment.

Oakcliff’s Promise to Olympic Hopefuls 

Oakcliff is here to help you gain the skills, learn and grow into strong successful humans. When you exemplify Oakcliff’s ethos of leadership, dedication and team and progress up the Helix, we will be here as your support network.

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How to Donate

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Oakcliff, Windmark and our Oyster Bay supporters will continue to run Camps, Triple Crown Regattas and support the top two teams in the fleet with equipment.  We invite you to join in our efforts to support these athletes.

All Olympians should have a fair fight to win medals for the United States of America.

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