Interview with Vanessa Lahrkamp
As she prepares to enter her final year of sailing at Stanford University, Bell 42 caught up with Vanessa Lahrkamp, to reflect on a phenomenal collegiate sailing career thus far, and consider what the future might hold.
Bell 42: What was your most memorable accomplishment from this past year sailing at Stanford?
VL: I think it had to be winning at the Women’s Team Race National Championships. I really wasn’t expecting that, because I had gone abroad in the winter, so I’d missed the first four weeks of the season, and jumping back into the boat and connecting back with my team was a little bit different than in past seasons. It was really important that we practice together so that we could build chemistry.
For the women’s team race, it was basically a brand new team and the skippers who were skippering the event hadn’t skippered the past two years, it was also new for them. So making sure that we all three got on the same page really quickly was difficult. And I think overcoming that challenge to win the event was a proud moment.
Bell 42: Was there anything you did in training or any sort of preparation in particular that helped you meet that challenge head on?
VL: I think just the team and the makeup of our team were what helped. Our team is very competitive, it’s a very deep team, and we have a lot of rosters that could be put in. That makes the training at practice more competitive than most of the races we do at the regatta. We also have very good assistant coaches and they’re young. They’ll hop in the boat and compete against us anytime. And they’re also very good, which makes practice even more competitive.
Bell 42: Do you have a favorite or most memorable race from your time at Stanford as a whole?
VL: During my freshman year, we sailed a women’s team for the co-ed team race. That was the first time in history that anyone’s ever sailed a co-ed team race with all women, and we went undefeated in the Sweet 16, which is so rare. I thought that was really cool, because women weren’t even really team racing a couple years ago. So for our coach to put our women’s team in and then we were beating all the boys, that was really cool.
Bell 42: And what are you looking forward to in the coming year?
VL: I’m looking forward to having a full team, because no one graduated from our team last year, so we have the same team, plus six or seven new freshmen. So I’m excited to meet the freshman and to have a really full team. We’ll have a lot of people at practice, so it will be even more competitive. I’m going to try to help the freshmen a lot more this year than I did last year. I feel like last year, I didn’t have a lot of time, just because of school and going abroad, but this year I definitely want to make sure the freshmen get taught a lot, so that they are ready to step up.
Bell 42: And where do you see yourself this time next year? What sort of sailing do you see for yourself after college?
VL: I really love team racing. That’s my favorite part of the season. I would definitely be interested in the Hinman competition, the Wilson, those are very big team races that I would hopefully be a part of. And I think after school, I could definitely see myself getting more into match racing, because I know there’s a big women’s circuit that I could try. I think it will be hard just coming out of college, because I’m sure my job will be very demanding.
Bell 42: What will be the hardest thing to leave behind at Stanford?
VL: I think just sailing in general, because I know when I start my career, I won’t have much time to sail. I noticed during my internship this summer, I didn’t realize how much I missed sailing until I went back to it. That just made me see how much I love it. And also the team. I love my team and it will be hard to not be around them all the time.
Bell 42: Do you have any advice for junior sailors who are hoping to sail at the collegiate level?
VL: I think just that the training is so important and also loving the sport. Because college sailing does take up a lot of time, especially with the need to devote a lot of time to academics also. If you’re willing to put the effort in, any team would love to have you onboard
Bell 42: Congratulations on a terrific collegiate career so far, and best of luck in what will surely be an exciting final year!
