End of the Olympics

Competing at the Olympic Games has always been a dream I have wanted to achieve.  To get that opportunity for a 2nd time has been an amazing opportunity.  Competing at the highest level of a sport is not easy and the differences between reaching your goals and failure are slim.  

Our goal coming into this event was to compete with the best in the World and at the end of the week be in the position to bring home a medal.  I wish I could say that this is exactly what happened and things went just as we planned and practiced.  That did not happen this week and I will not hold back the feeling of loss and disappointment that I have in the results of the past week.

I will never question the sacrifice and commitment that we have made over the past few years.  We set out a plan and I can confidently say that we executed it exactly how we wanted.  I have always believed in setting a plan for big events, following it and believing in the plan.  This has always been our avenue to success and I know it will be our avenue to success in the future.

Sometimes your plan leads you to success and other times you fail.  When your goals are set high the risk of failure increases and as an athlete you have to embrace that risk.  I have never been afraid of failure and I have never let it beat me in the past.  If anything I learn from it and make myself better.

This failure has been the hardest for me in my career and I would be lying to say that I have moved on already.  We felt prepared, we trained hard, sacrificed everything we needed to be successful and felt confident in how to attack the race course and the conditions in Weymouth.  Our plan did not lead us to the goal we had set for ourselves.  Why?  Well to be honest we do not know right now, it has only been a few days and we will need some significant time to analyze almost 4 years of training.  Our results coming into this event gave us every indication that we were prepared to compete for a medal and that is what makes this so hard to accept.

I have had a tremendous amount of support to get to this point and I would like to thank everyone for helping me get to the Olympics in 2012.  Even though this has been a disappointing week it has not been a disappointing last 4 years.  We have had a lot of success and I could not have achieved any of it without your continued support for which I am incredibly grateful.  

I also know that there will be criticism for my performance and that comes with the territory and you have to embrace that also.  I know the effort we made over the past few years and I will not allow the criticism to deter my resolve to comeback stronger from this event.  You put yourself out there for people to judge your performances.  I can promise you that my own desires to reach my goals and the disappointment of not reaching them will far outweigh what others can say about my performance.

Since the competition I have been experiencing the other racing and competitions at the Olympics and have been enjoying the experience of being at an Olympic Games.  We will be heading to London for the closing ceremonies which is going to be a fantastic event and then we will be heading home.

Where do we go from here?  I am not sure yet but I am excited about some opportunities to expand into different areas of the sport.  I would love to do some sailing outside of the Olympic circuit and hope that the opportunity presents itself in the near future.  I love the Olympic circuit but I also want to do some offshore sailing and some team sailing on larger boats.  We will soon find out what will happen with these dreams and goals.  

Even though we failed to reach our goals this has been an amazing experience and I thank each of you for your continued support.  I will learn from this and will put those lessons towards a new goal in the very near future!!  

Zach

Zero Days to Go

Zero days left until the Olympics!!  I am incredibly excited about the experience I will have over the next 2 weeks both on and off the water.  The Olympics has always been a dream and I feel so fortunate to be attending my 2nd Olympics.  

We are heading into London tonight for the Opening Ceremonies which will be a first time experience for me.  I missed out in Beijing due to my racing schedule.  It will also be a realization of a dream for Paige and I to walk through that tunnel together.  That has always been the first visual we have dreamed about at an Olympics.  Side by side walking through the tunnel into the stadium having fun and chanting USA with the rest of our teammates.  Look for us tonight we will be there!!

Racing starts this coming Sunday and runs through Aug 5th.  Ten races and the final medal race for the top 10 boats rounds out the week.  It looks like this will be exactly what Weymouth is known for if the forecast holds.  Windy, raining, cold, physically and mentally hard racing.  Not only are the conditions going to be difficult but the competition is going to be very stiff.  There are at least 10 if not 12 athletes that have a shot at winning a medal.  I am confident that I am in that group and it will be a true test this week to see who comes out on top.  I know that we have done everything possible to be ready for this event and that gives me a great sense of calm before this competition knowing we have prepared ourselves.  I dream about bringing my best to the World's stage and we will see where my best puts me on Aug 5th.

I would like to thank everyone for the support in helping me get to this point.  I have had help from so many people, sponsors and the entire US Olympic Team and US Sailing Team.  I could not be here without your dedication and belief in my ability to represent the USA at the Olympic Games.

I will do my best!!

Zach

  

Finn World Championship

The 2012 Finn World Championship starts tomorrow.  Since the World Cup Event in Palma we have been training hard both on and off the water.  I had a short break back at home and then went to the Olympic Venue in Weymouth and spent a solid ten days sailing at the venue learning and getting to know the area more.  The training and time spent in Weymouth was a huge success and we look forward to spending some more time there after the World Championships.  

We arrived in Falmouth, England two days ago and have everything ready for the World Champs.  There are almost 100 boats competing here and it is a very deep and competitive fleet.  Racing runs through the week and I will be updating on www.twitter.com/zachsail after each day of racing.  

The Finn World Championship will also be the last and final qualifier for the country spots at the Olympic Games and many countries are using it as their final Olympic Selection event.  We will know almost all of our competitors that I will face at the 2012 Olympics.  Looking at the competition and comparing where we are at will give us a direction on what we need to focus on in the last 2 months leading up to the 2012 Olympics.

We are in the home stretch and I would like to thank everyone who has helped the campaign.  From personal sponsors, donors and the newly titled US Sailing Team Sperry Topsider thank you for your continued support.  I could not live this dream without you!!

Zach

Princess Sofia World Cup

Wow!!  What a winter it has been.  Huge whirlwind with qualification behind us and a big win at the 1st World Cup Event in Miami, then living at our training center working on fitness in Colorado Springs.

We have been busy and it feels great to be pushing so hard now in the lead up to the Olympics in just 4 months.  Right now, I am in Palma, Spain and have been training here for a little over 2 weeks getting prepared for the next World Cup Event that starts on Monday.  All of the top competitors from around the World will be here and some are even using the event as an Olympic qualifier so the competition will be at an extremely high level and I am looking forward to the challenge.  Follow the event at www.trofeoprincesasofia.org I will also be doing my updates at www.twitter.com/zachsail and www.facebook.com/zachrailey

We have also been busy planning our Celebration Event in Clearwater on April 20th.  All of the event information is at www.clearwaterolympians.org  Thank you to everyone who has committed to attend and to those who have helped put this event together.  This is a night not to be missed!!  It will help Paige and I cover our expenses toward London and it will also be a ton of fun!  Food, drinks, games, presentations, amazing auction items and lots more.  We hope to see you there and bring lots of friends!!  Remember even if you can't attend if you buy a ticket we will invite a junior sailor from the area in your place just let Jennifer know when you purchase.

Lastly, I had an experience of a lifetime being trained along with my teammates in Colorado Springs by active duty Navy Seals.  I have always had a great deal of respect for our service men and women.  The Navy Seals being the best military unit in the World and them coming to train with us was an incredible opportunity.  I would be lying if I said it was easy, but I would also be lying if I said I did not enjoy the experience.  Not because of the torture they put us through, but because of their ability to teach us lessons during the day that they had learned in their training and service that would better prepare us for what we need to do in our training and performance.  I owe a great deal of gratitude to them not only for their service to our country but also for the invaluable contribution they made to me personally over those days in Colorado!!

Thank you to the sponsors of the US Sailing Team Alphagraphics, my personal sponsors along with the many donors who make it possible for me to live this dream!!  I could not do it without each and everyone of you and your efforts!!

Miami OCR World Cup

Tomorrow is the start of the first World Cup Event of 2012 in Miami.  I am very excited that we have the opportunity to race a World Cup Event on home waters here in the USA.  It is also great to be back in Miami where I went to college and really kicked up my Olympic Training at The U.

We will use this event to focus on my execution on the race course.  We will have a smaller fleet here at OCR of 26 boats.  This is a fantastic opportunity to practice our execution in a smaller fleet.  At the Olympics later this year we will be sailing in a fleet of 26 boats so this is great practice for the ultimate goal this year.

You can follow the event at www.rmocr.ussailing.org where they will have a live blog, video, photos and much more.  I will also be doing my updates on the blog and also on twitter.  

I would like to thank everyone who has been involved with the campaign.  The entire US Sailing Team Alphagraphics family of sponsors, my personal sponsors and all the donors who make this dream possible.

Following OCR we will have our annual team meeting and I look forward to updating you on all the exciting plans for 2012!!  

Thank you for all your support!!

Zach