{"id":81722,"date":"2025-05-19T14:37:25","date_gmt":"2025-05-19T18:37:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/?p=81722"},"modified":"2025-05-19T17:35:36","modified_gmt":"2025-05-19T21:35:36","slug":"brothers-at-the-top","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/racing\/brothers-at-the-top\/","title":{"rendered":"Brothers At The Top"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\"2024 <\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n
\n Justin and Mitchell Callahan at the 2024 Snipe Junior World Championship in Miami, which they won by 13 points.<\/span>\n Lexi Pline<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\t <\/figcaption>\n <\/section>\n\t\t\n\n\n

It\u2019s a cold winter day in Boston, but it\u2019s also the first practice session of the season for the Harvard sailing team\u2019s twin brothers, Justin and Mitchell Callahan. They\u2019re anxious to get on the water, but the wind is gusting to 25, whistling through the city streets. The air temperature is 36 degrees, but the Charles River is frozen, so the sailors transport nine dinghies to Boston\u2019s frigid harbor to practice. It might be a frigid one, but it is just another day in the sailing life of these 21-year-old juniors who have been racing since their earliest days. Both have high aspirations in sailing and their careers after college, and both are off to incredible beginnings.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Justin and Mitchell grew up sailing in Miami and Newport, Rhode Island, and have been able to sail year-round. The fraternal twins speak with an engaging smile and are genuinely enthused about racing and their future. The young men are different in stature\u2014Justin is 5\u201910\u201d and weighs 148 pounds, while Mitchell is 6\u20193\u201d and weighs 180. While different in their appearances, they\u2019re equals as students of the physical and mental aspects of competitive sailing, \u00adthriving in the crucible of high-level \u00adcollegiate racing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Justin shares his philosophy: \u201cThe hardest part about college sailing is to never get flustered because there are so many races, and you never know what is going to happen. There are no drops. Consistency is what\u2019s so important in college sailing. That, and keeping a level head.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Justin and his Harvard sailing crewmate, Kennedy Leehealy, won three of the final five B Division races to secure Harvard\u2019s national championship victory this past spring. \u201cHaving great teammates is the number one thing,\u201d Callahan says. \u201cI\u2019ve had the same crew throughout college. We\u2019ve been sailing together for two and a half years, and we feel like two peas in a pod. Whether we are first or last, we feel like there\u2019s more to do, more to gain.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mitchell thrives in the team environment of college sailing. \u201cI\u2019m a big team-sport person,\u201d he says. \u201cI also played lacrosse outside of sailing. I just love the team aspect. In team racing, there is always the right play. In fleet racing, it\u2019s a little more arbitrary, where you can get a shift, you can get unlucky. In team racing, the chances of winning the race are elongated. The main goal is to try to extend the success rate of plays for as long as possible. There\u2019s always a right thing to do, and then you have your teammates with you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c[Harvard coaches] Mike O\u2019Connor and Bern Noack have been with the team for 29 years and are really helpful in practice and at regattas,\u201d Justin says. Recently, veteran college coach Stan Schreyer joined the Harvard coaching staff. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Justin says that he became comfortable working with coaches at a young age. \u201cLior Lavie has been equally influential in our sailing. We owe a lot of our success to him. He has coached me and Mitchell since we were 10 years old.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lavie worked with the boys when they were sailing at Immaculate LaSalle High School in Miami. In 2022, Lavie was named coach of the Cornell University Sailing Team, and previously he was a member of the Israeli Olympic sailing team (2004-11).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mitchell had a different path in sailing than his brother, but when they\u2019re together in a boat, they\u2019re certainly always faster. \u201cRight after my growth spurt, I hopped into the Laser and out of 420s. More recently, my brother and I started sailing Snipes as well, which is an absolute blast. They\u2019re very technical boats, which we like.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And that\u2019s to say they won the 46-boat 2024 Snipe Junior World Championship by a whopping 13 points. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mitchell works hard at physical training and observes that many of his peers simply apply themselves in practice, but that\u2019s about it. \u201cI am very big on personal wellness and mindfulness,\u201d he says. \u201cI eat a very clean diet, just meat and vegetables. I exercise every day, whether that\u2019s cardio or lifting weights in the gym. I ran a marathon last spring, and I\u2019m currently training for another in Boston. I practice mindfulness and mediation, not only for sailing, but for life in general. It really helps me a lot. So, when I get on the racecourse, it\u2019s just me in the boat, because sailing is about feel, and you try to get in that flow state.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Justin, meanwhile, sees himself as a student of high-level sailing. \u201cI\u2019ve watched every sailing YouTube video on the planet, from the America\u2019s Cup to Olympic medal races to top-level match racing. I look up to sailors like Tom Slingsby, Peter Burling and Dennis Conner and the heart they took to the sport, and I try to emulate that as much as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Justin and Mitchell\u2019s parents, Paul and Alisa Callahan, have been strong supporters of their sailing development. Paul Callahan was injured at the age of 21 and has been a quadriplegic ever since. He runs the organization Sail to Prevail, with sailing operations in Newport and Miami that enable disabled sailors to get an opportunity to be on the water. Callahan has also twice competed in the Paralympics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGrowing up with a father in a wheelchair teaches you to think about someone else first,\u201d Justin says. \u201cYou never put yourself first. For me and Mitchell, we\u2019ve learned that there\u2019s no such word as \u2018can\u2019t,\u2019 and you can always do anything you set your mind to. He was disabled at my age now, and the life he was able to put together is a testament to his mindset. He was able to work on Wall Street. He graduated from Harvard Business School, he raced in two Paralympics, and he raised a family. I couldn\u2019t ask for a better father. There is no one else who I\u2019d rather have on my side.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mitchell adds: \u201cI attribute 99 percent of my and Justin\u2019s success to our support system, mainly our parents, and then our coach, Lior, who is not only a talented sailing coach, but he is also one-of-a-kind with the psychology of the sport. If we win a race, he might scream at us, and if we come back after a black flag start, he\u2019ll hug us and say: \u2018OK, let\u2019s reset. Let\u2019s move on.\u2019 He never lets us get too high or too low. It\u2019s really ingrained in us, and I can hear him in my head after a good race, or a bad race.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mitchell and Justin are thriving at Harvard, as adept at their studies as they are with racing. \u201cThe school has so much to offer,\u201d Mitchell says. \u201cThere are tremendous opportunities, whether academic, athletically or even socially. There\u2019s a unique mix of people at the school from all over the world, and it\u2019s kind of like sailing when you go to an international regatta. They offer unique perspectives.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After college, Mitchell plans to shift to his professional advancement, a career in either private equity or consulting. \u201cI haven\u2019t figured it out yet, but that\u2019s what I\u2019ll be doing,\u201d he says. \u201cHopefully, I will end up at Harvard Business School. I will keep racing, doing the Hinman Team Racing Championship and match racing, regardless of Justin. I\u2019m definitely switching gears for my business career.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Looking toward his own future, Justin aspires to racing at a high level. \u201cMy long-term aspirations are being in the America\u2019s Cup, being in SailGP, being at the pinnacle of the sport, representing the United States in some capacity. I think that is a huge honor. I\u2019m considering the LA 2028 Olympics, possibly in the 470 class, but it\u2019s very much a thought right now. Beyond that, I would like to go to law school.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At this writing, Harvard is ranked No. 1 in college sailing. Both Justin and Mitchell are quick to point out the large pool of great collegiate teams racing these days. Like all college sailors, they thrive on the competition and the friendships that last a lifetime. They are keen to have another successful year on the water, and when the ice does finally clear on the Charles, you can bet they\u2019ll be straight into it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Years of high-level youth racing and training have pushed the Callahan brothers to the top of their respective games.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":81725,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"BS_author_type":"BS_author_is_guest","BS_guest_author_name":"Gary Jobson","BS_guest_author_url":"","hydra_display_date":"","hydra_display_updated":false,"_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":"","_yoast_wpseo_metadesc":"","_yoast_wpseo_title":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","arc_story_id":"","arc_website_url":"","custom_permalink":"","arc_subtype":"","arc_exclude_from_feeds":false,"sponsored":false,"sponsored_label":"Sponsored Content","sponsored_display_label":false,"sponsored_image":false,"post_right_rail":true,"post_right_rail_ad_1":true,"post_right_rail_ad_2":true,"post_right_rail_ad_3":false,"post_right_rail_ad_4":false,"post_right_rail_recirc":true,"fixed_anchor_ad":true,"post_top_ad":true,"post_off_ramp":true,"post_taboola":false,"labels":true,"apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":"","ad_settings_ads_on_this_page":true,"ad_settings_automatic_ad_injection_into_the_content":true,"ad_targeting":"","alternate_title_newsletter":"","alternate_content_newsletter":"","sponsored_url":"","social_share":true},"categories":[159],"tags":[179,232,2992,177,178],"class_list":["post-81722","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-racing","tag-college-sailing","tag-one-design","tag-print-spring-2025","tag-racing","tag-sailboat-racing"],"acf":[],"apple_news_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81722","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81722"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81722\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/81725"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81722"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81722"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81722"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}