TEAM GO SAIL PHOTO | Sarah Lihan, left, and Amanda Clark in Australia in December.

Shelter Island’s Olympic sailor Amanda Clark on Monday posted the following update on her status as she prepares for the 2012 Summer Olympics in England after having qualified for the U. S. team in Australia in December. She and her crew Sarah Lihan now stand in sixth place in the International Sailing Federation’s world standings. The big news comes in the last paragraph of Ms. Clark’s post on her Team GO SAIL website:

“Though we took a couple weeks off to celebrate the holidays and decompress from our Australia trip, Team GO SAIL has been back on the water for a month now. We’ve competed in two regattas as well as several short training camps, all taking place down in Miami.

“Really, we’re just aiming to continue our streak of sunny venues as long as possible! All kidding aside, we’ve been running full steam ahead since we got back in the boat, and have been working hard to tighten up our game. Now that we’ve been selected for the Olympics, we can turn our full focus towards our final goal: bringing home a medal at the games. To do that, we have planned an aggressive schedule — we will be on the road 150 of the final 200 days leading up to the games — but we feel it is the best way to get where we want to be.

“It was awesome to have our first event after qualification be held in the United States— it was just incredible to feel the energy and excitement from everyone at home. The 470 North Americans were held at the Coconut Grove Sailing Club from January 15-17, and with a variety of conditions and a strong international fleet in attendance, it was the perfect event to get back in the swing of things.

“The men and women sailed in a combined fleet, which always provides a different challenge. We were focusing on refining our communication in the boat as well as improving our starting technique, which was an area in which we struggled at the Worlds. After three days of picture perfect sailing, we made great strides in both of these areas, and as the icing on the cake, we were crowned North American Champions!