A Podium Finish in Lanzarote

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The latest from Steph and Maggie. Dear Roble/Shea Sailing friends & family, Welcome to our first newsletter of the 2023 racing season! After training hard during the off-season, we’re stoked to get back onto the race course with the international fleet. We are grateful for the supporters who have been with us for a while now and excited to welcome new friends to our team. Your support means the world to us, and we’re lucky to have you on our team!  Sincerely,  Steph & Maggie LANZAROTE INTERNATIONAL REGATTA | February 10-13   We kicked off the racing season in the Canary Islands with a podium finish and a medal race win at the Lanzarote International Regatta. Most of the 49erFX international fleet was racing and training in Lanzarote for the winter, so it was a great preview of the regattas ahead. Over the four scheduled days of racing, the fleet was only able to race two days due to the Calima wind that engulfed the island. The Calima is a hot wind weather system from the Sahara Desert that is filled with dust and sand. For several days it was blowing 20-30 knots with big waves and very low visibility forcing the race committee to abandon two days of qualifying racing.  The first day of racing was light with big, tricky swell, and day two was 18-22 knots with massive waves. We raced consistently through the qualifying series which put us in third overall going into the medal race. The points were tight with all ten positions in play. It was blowing 16 knots from the east and we liked the left. We started on the pin third of the line and with good speed we rounded the first windward mark in third. Solid boat handling at the leeward mark put us in a powerful position on the fleet, which allowed us to take advantage of a couple of shifts upwind. We ultimately took the lead at the second windward mark. We won the medal race and secured third overall! This was a great start to our season, especially after not having raced since the Worlds in September. We are excited to keep this momentum going into our spring events!   Full Results Here | Medal Race Replay Here “This was the second medal race in a row that we’ve won. We absolutely love the pressure and excitement the final race for double-points!” -Steph. Check out the Calima sandstorm on the right! Photo Credits: Sailing Energy  We are excited to welcome Jorge Lima, a three-time 49er Olympian (’08, ’16 and ’20) from Portugal, to our team!  Jorge brings a wealth of knowledge, recent experience, and fresh perspective. Jorge has already challenged us to step outside our comfort zone and experiment with new ways of sailing the boat. NEXT UP: PRINCESS SOFIA TROPHY | March 29 - April 8 The Princess Sofia Trohpy is one of our favorite events on the circuit. Palma is known for its big waves and strong wind, and this event certainly weeds out the weak early in the season! We have some unfinished business on this racecourse because last year a second OCS penalty took us out of podium contention. Can't wait to hit the water in the Balearic Islands in less than two weeks. Follow Results Here | @Trofeoprincesasofia HYERES OLYMPIC SAILING WEEK | April 24-29 Just two weeks after the Princess Sofia Trophy, the whole fleet will race again in Hyeres, France. Hyeres is about 50 miles from the Olympic sailing venue in Marseille, but the weather pattern and sea state can be very similar. Additionally, Hyeres regatta always has a solid fleet turnout with great racing conditions, and most importantly, we love French pastries! Follow Results Here | @ffvoilefra Palma & Hyeres are two critical events because the US team with the best combined overall finishes will qualify for the Olympic Test event this summer in Marseille and the Pan Am Games in Santiago, Peru next fall. Read more below about the selection process.  PATH TO PARIS 2024 The selection procedures are published for the US Olympic Trials! The first chance to qualify will be the Olympic Test Event. If the qualified team (with the best score from Palma & Hyeres) achieves a podium finish at the Olympic Test Event in July, they earn the nomination. However, if the team that sails the Test Event doesn't finish on the podium, the trials continue to next spring. The team with the best combined overall finishes at the 2024 World Championship in Lanzarote, Spain (February '24) and the Princess Sofia Trophy 2024 in Palma de Mallorca, Spain (April '24) will earn the nomination. IT TAKES A VILLAGE Friends of the team recently hosted a fundraiser for us at Coral Reef Yacht Club where we were able to touch base with many of our friends and fellow racers and welcome new friends to the team.  These types of events are very important to our success and we love doing them!  Please keep us in mind in case you would like to have us speak at your yacht club, regatta, or any other gathering of like-minded sailors.  Our schedule opens up this fall after the worlds in August, and we will need to make a big, and hopefully final, fundraising push before the 2024 Games!   DONATE TODAY Support our team and help us get one step closer to our goal of bringing home a Gold Medal for Team USA. We can't do it alone, and we are so grateful for all of the generous supporters behind us. Go USA! About Roble Shea Sailing Steph and Maggie met as Laser Radial competitors during high school, became great friends and ultimately teammates on the 29er, 420 and professional match racing circuit. This Midwestern duo has been competing with and against each other for 15 years now. Individually they have won world championship medals, national titles and All American Honors. Together they are ready to take on their ultimate quest at the biggest sporting event in the world - a gold medal at the Paris 2024 Olympics. For more information, please visit www.roblesheasailing.com About the US Sailing Team  The US Sailing Team is managed by the United States Sailing Association (US Sailing), the national governing body for the sport of sailing and sailboat racing. US Sailing names the top Olympic class athletes to the team annually, through both event qualification and at the discretion of team leadership. US Sailing helps these elite athletes with financial, logistical, coaching, technical, fitness, marketing and communications support. For more information, please visit www.ussailing.org/olympics. About Team USA More than 600 athletes are expected to represent the United States at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. Steph and Maggie are proud to be U.S. Olympians, and represented Team USA at Tokyo 2020. For more information, please visit https://www.teamusa.org/   Copyright © 2022 Roble Shea Sailing, All rights reserved. This list is for individuals and media outlets following Stephanie Roble and Maggie Shea on their journey to represent the United States at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.

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