Beth DeAtley, Foundation Advisory Board member and StFYC member, recently gave members of the StFYC family, also athletes on the 2020 Olympic sailing, a generous donation to support them through the final phase of their 2020 Olympic campaign. Her timing couldn’t have been better given the circumstances of the past year which burdened the sailors with an additional year to fund.
“My desire is to support our Olympics sailors so that they can be free to train without the hindrance of constant fundraising,” Beth said. “I have learned a lot through our discussions and have great admiration for the talent, training, and overall determination it takes to be an Olympic sailor. I’m very proud of them.”
Team DeAtley comprises Luke Muller (Finn), Paige Railey (Laser Radial) and Riley Gibbs/Anna Weiss (Nacra 17), who will sail with the Team DeAtley logo on their sails or hulls.
What this means for each of our Olympic sailors:
Luke Muller: It was an honor to be named a part of Team DeAtley alongside Gibbs-Weiss Racing and Paige Railey. The grant allowed me to focus all of my energy towards my sailing rather than fundraising. This fall, I gained 5lbs of muscle mass and improved my ability to keep my heart rate calm in strenuous hiking positions. The yield of this newfound strength allows me to focus my attention on my sail trim and driving technique to make the boat go as fast as possible.
As unfortunate as it is that we have not been able to compete in major international events, this year has been an amazing opportunity for me and my team to polish our game. We’ve had extra time to test odd ideas and improve the systems on our boats, which has proved to be eye-opening, including a training block in Lanzarote, Spain of 3-4 weeks where we continued to grow and develop. The professionalism and attention to detail of my campaign has drastically improved and I cannot wait to see what I can do come competition time.
Paige Railey: This grant means the world to me! It has allowed me to pay for the coming years competitions and enabled me to focus solely on training. This is one of the stressful aspects about being a professional athlete is making sure you have enough funds to pay for the year. Beth has ensured that I am able to focus more on my goals. I was having health issues up until March of 2020, so the delay due to the pandemic has enabled me to focus on improving my health back to a professional athlete – I always try to look for the silver lining in things! I was recently able to compete in the US West Marine Open Series in Clearwater, Florida, and these events have been a godsend because it has allowed us to check in with fellow athletes on our fitness and improvements.
.Anna Weiss/Riley Gibbs: We are so grateful to be a part of Team DeAtley. This grant means so much to us because it has allowed us to purchase Olympic sails and learn about what we are looking for in different equipment. We ordered new spinnakers with draft stripes, which have helped me learn about trimming downwind in a different and productive way.
This grant has allowed us to focus on our learning and has taken away some of the stress from the past year. Because we are a relatively new team, this extra year has been extremely helpful in that we were able to really take a step back and focus on the basics. While this postponement hasn’t always been easy, we have been trying to focus on the things we can control. Although we haven’t been able to race internationally, we are trusting the work that we are putting in back home.
In mid February, we raced in the Youth Foiling World Cup in Gaeta, Italy and were very excited for this experience and to learn as much as we can. After, we hope to be sailing the Nacra in Europe, however we might need to change our plans due to Covid. We couldn’t be more excited to be a part of Team DeAtley, and we are honored to represent St. Francis YC all around the world.
