During the 2020 World Championships Nathan Outteridge sat down with his sister and sailing partner, Haylee Outteridge, to be interviewed by Chris Museler. The topic of discussion was an horrific car accident Nathan was involved in as an 18 year old, and how that shaped his life and family from that point on.
Nathan speaks eloquently about how his focus and drive was enhanced and developed in the recovery from his accident. Hobled for months he got a chance to think about what he wanted to do with his life, and how precious and precarious life can be. The double gold medalist surely has followed through and built one of the most commanding sailing resumes of all time.
The second feature of the interview brings out the family Outteridge. Those on tour know that whenever possible these natives of ‘the lake’ travel as a pack. Not only are Nathan and Haylee finally sailing together, something they’ve been trying to do ever since the Nacra came into Olympic sailing, but more often than not brother Beau is along as well running media for various entities including Australian Sailing, SailGP Team Japan, and occasionally the nacra17 and Nacra 17 classes. More recently wife Emma and baby Jack join them on the road, along with the new grandparents, so it’s a sailing family happily on the move.
As your Ed., Ben Remocker, I would also like to add a personal comment here about driving and sailing. I lost a sailing partner of mine, Nathan Cowan, to a car accident while driving to a regatta years ago. He was a great young man and a great sailor and had so much to look forward to in life. He was doing nothing more than we all do when travelling, which is to push distances and times hard to maximize time on the water. We must all take precautions while driving as we see sensibly. Plan and budget ahead to stop when needed, drive with a buddy, and let’s all make sure we arrive at the start line safely.
Hope you enjoy hearing from one of the worlds best sailors and best sailing communicators. This interview was filmed during the 2020 Nacra 17 World Championships, where Nathan and Haylee were disappointed to finish 2nd by a point, for the second time in their three year Nacra 17 careers… not bad for part timers.
