Kevin Burnham Motivates the STYC
The Caribbean, with its constant trade winds and balmy weather, is an ideal place to sail. But, what the region lacks is a concentration of world-class sailing talent. “Travel is important,” says Kevin Burnham, a gold medallist in the Men’s 470 class at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, who visited St. Thomas Yacht Club December 23 to give a motivational talk as a fundraiser for the Antilles School Sailing Team. “Young sailors need to expand their horizons, get out and travel, check other conditions and meet other competitors.”
A native of Miami, Florida, Burnham is a professional sailor whose sailing experiences range from winning one-design keelboat regattas, to breaking long distance records to winning Olympic Gold Medals. Last year, Burnham and his teammate Paul Foerster were recognized for their achievements at the Olympics by being named Rolex Yachtsmen of the Year. Since the 2004, Burnham has entertained and spoken to a wide variety of groups, including Fortune 500 companies, top executives, schools, and yacht clubs.
In his talk, Burnham offers many tips to up-and-coming sailors.
“Coaching is important. Someone who can short cut you and step you up. That’s what I had early in my career, as a 16-year-old, and it’s one reason I stuck with sailing rather than continued to play tennis,” Burnham says.
Practice makes perfect. “We raced heavily on the European circuit where there are a lot of professionals. So, we would regularly leave the beach at 8 a.m. and not return until 6 p.m., spending the whole day doing drills. Fellow sailors here in the U.S. thought we were nuts, but it paid off.”
At the Olympics, Burnham adds, “We were the first on the water, usually one hour earlier than anyone else. We didn’t want any outside influences and didn’t stick around in the morning shore side to listen to things like weather reports. We wanted to do our own thing. We’d sail upwind and do a full race before the rest of the fleet came out. We’d get our compass settings down and an air of confidence.”
Confidence was gained quickly when Burnham and Foerster won their first of 11 Olympic races. “Paul said at the time, ‘we can’t win them all until we win the first one’,” Burnham says.
Winning all 11 races wasn’t in the cards though. “In one race we got 19th. We got stuck having to do some 720s and the fleet passed us. At that point I felt that the regatta was slipping away from us. Then a friend told us that if you want something too much, you won’t get it. Just take things as they come.”
Ultimately, Burnham and Foerster won the gold, leaving the British and Japan teams to take silver and bronze, respectively.
“I tried for 30 years to win the Gold. What’s important is the mindset,” Burnham says. “Stay the focus, keep training and keep your mind on what you want. I can tell you that dreams do come true.”
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