Training alone in their International 470 off the south shore of Long Island, New York, in the summer of 2021, Louisa Nordstrom and Trevor Bornarth were a world away from the spectacle of the Tokyo Games. There, Olympians Stu McNay and Dave Hughes rolled their sails together for the last time, marking the end of the individual men’s and women’s Olympic 470 disciplines and the beginning of the new Mixed Olympic 470 era. For Nordstrom and Bornarth, and many young sailors looking to reach the pinnacle of dinghy sailing, this new coed medal provides a unique opportunity to compete in the Paris and Los Angeles Games.

“It (the switch to a mixed class) does level the playing field a little bit for a new sailor coming into the fleet because everyone has to reset by sailing with a new person,” Nordstrom says. “There’s a lot of younger talent coming into the 470 because I think it’s easier to get into the class given that everyone is starting fresh.”

Nordstrom, 24, from Sarasota, Florida, grew up racing in the ILCA 6, Club 420 and 29er fleets and excelled at Yale, receiving four College Sailing All-American honors before graduating in 2020. Bornarth, two years younger and from Port Solerno, Florida, stood out in the International 420 class, placing second at the 2017 World Sailing Youth World Championships. While pursuing Olympic 470 sailing full time, Bornarth is also enrolled online at the University of Florida.

The pair first connected in Newport in the fall of 2020 through the US Sailing Team Olympic Development Program, an initiative aimed at preparing elite youth sailors for Olympic-level competition. With both sailors aiming for the 2024 Games, they began their campaign with the Oyster Bay 470 Team and were named to the US Sailing Team in 2022.

A year and a half later, now with the full resources of the US Sailing Team, their most significant challenges still lie before them. Following years of intense training and competition, however, Nordstrom and Bornarth are dialing in their performance, and their results are getting them ever closer to the top.

“Last year was a big year of figuring out how to sail the 470 fast—and that is a huge project,” Bornarth says. “Now we’re focused on racing, in-the-boat communication, and how we’re making decisions in tactical situations where you can either gain three boats or lose three boats. That’s how we can go from struggling in the upper-middle pack to punching through to the medal race consistently.”

Developing Olympic-level performance in the 470 is a lifelong mission, says two-time Olympian Dave Hughes. “You never finish learning how to sail a 470,” he says. “It has many modes available to you, both upwind and downwind, and you pay a large price if you spend time in a mode that is not ideal. You can sail the boat at an A level for an entire race and artificially think that you’re at an A-plus level, but you pay the price with your results.”

With Nordstrom and Bornarth each bringing a unique background and experience to the 470, they rely on each other’s strengths to excel in a variety of conditions. “Louisa is an absolute weapon at calling the shifty stuff—college sailing definitely paid off there. When it’s cranking, and Louisa can’t see anything, I’m calling tactics,” Bornarth says.

The ability for teams to rely on both partners in the tactical conversation is paramount for success in the 470, Hughes says: “Most successful teams are running it so that the crew and the helm can appropriately shift the tactical football. You have to be able to transfer authority on the tactics effectively—there’s just so much to be gained and lost in the margins that that’s where the best teams show their prowess, and that’s how you win regattas.”

Training with international partners in Europe has allowed Nordstrom and Bornarth to work with the world’s leading teams while the American 470 fleet continues to develop. “We’ve worked a lot together with the Italians, the Israelis and the Brits,” Nordstrom says. “Being in Europe and being able to go early to events and train together with the entire fleet has been an absolute game-changer.”

The duo also uses state-of-the-art technology to improve during domestic solo training sessions. “We have trackers, and at the end of the day, we can put it all on a tablet and analyze different aspects of our sailing,” Bornarth says. “That makes it a little more productive than it would be if we just say, ‘Oh, we’re going out to look at this new mainsail,’ and we’re by ourselves—we don’t get any data off it. Now that we’re incorporating these sailing instruments, it’s been a lot more productive.”

Seeing success in their ­racing results after years of hard work is a major driving factor in Nordstrom and Bornarth’s campaign. Finishing 13th at the 2022 International 470 European Championship in Turkey, their best campaign result to date, has motivated them to become even better. “Turkey was really exciting, as we were finally in the front of the fleet,” Nordstrom says. “We’ve known we can do it, and it was great to finally get a taste of accomplishing it. I think a big motivation going forward is to continue experiencing that feeling.”

Nordstrom and Bornarth represent a generation of younger 470 sailors stepping into a notoriously technical and specialized class. Spearheaded by the Olympic Development Program and the private Oyster Bay 470 Team, collegiate sailors and recent graduates flocking to the boat are revitalizing what was recently considered a dying one-design class.

“Right now, the problem is we need boats,” Bornarth says. “People are looking to buy more boats, and a lot of the [420] youth teams are starting to cross over. Domestically, US Sailing has done a great job of starting to promote the 470 again, and if we can get 10 boats on the starting line of the [2023 West Marine] US Open Sailing Series, that will probably be the first time in a decade that we’ve had that.”

The 470 remains one of the world’s most competitive classes despite the influx of new sailors following the change to a mixed format.

“I think, initially, the switch definitely leveled the playing field. But as we’ve seen over the past six months, it has fully ramped up—all the top guys are back with new crews or crews from the women’s or men’s squad,” Bornarth says. “You still have all the same sailors that were initially at the top of the men’s and women’s fleets now at the top of this fleet, so it’s still very challenging. Now that we’ve combined the men’s and women’s fleets, it’s gotten deeper. While the level may not be as high as it was in the top three of the men’s or women’s fleets, now the top 15 are there.”

Strong competition is also returning to the United States, with four-time 470 Olympian Stu McNay partnering with 2021 Women’s 470 Olympian Lara Dallman-Weiss. The full consequences of the shift to the mixed format will not be known for years to come, but current results show promise in assisting the development and longevity of the fleet.

“There’s a lot behind the decision for it going mixed,” says Hughes, who serves on World Sailing’s Athletes’ Commission, a body that represents Olympic athletes in World Sailing’s decision-­making process. “Ultimately, it did yield a case for [the 470] being in for another two Olympics: Paris and LA. Does that help the class? Absolutely, it does. Is the class different in terms of the people and the vibe? Yes, for sure. There are some people who have stuck on after Tokyo, but mostly it has provided a lot of newcomers an opportunity in the class. I think it is healthy, and now it is up to the class over the next two years to show that it can become the type of class that is more modern in terms of its racing, thought process and class development, and really deserves to be in the Olympic schedule.”

While Nordstrom and Bornarth have a long road ahead, they’re enjoying every moment of it.

“It’s all about the process and enjoying it,” Bornarth says. “The big thing in our campaign is making sure that even tasks that aren’t that fun, we try to find the joy in it. We tell ourselves every day that we’re living the dream—this is what we want to be doing.”

While the Olympic regatta was a world away not too long ago, the call of Marseille is fast becoming a real thing for Nordstrom and Bornarth. There will be plenty more sails to roll before then, and if Olympic aspirations come up short in 2024, the next big shot in Long Beach is right around the corner in 2028.

The post The New Mix of Olympic 470 Pairs appeared first on Sailing World.

It’s blowing 25 knots off the land from the northeast. Thick, dark clouds block the sun and bring the cold to the Trofeo Princesa Sofía regatta in Spain, the first European event of our 2022 Olympic calendar. My cheeks and hands are freezing, and my 4/3 wetsuit is soaked. I haven’t been in a wetsuit this thick in years, so moving around the boat is difficult. The wind is crazy puffy and shifty, and it feels like survival conditions at times. I have some nervous and excited butterflies in my stomach knowing that the racing is going to be intense. I have no idea what to expect from ourselves or the fleet. Welcome to Palma, I think to myself. Damn, it’s cold out here.

My teammate, Maggie Shea, and I call these survival days “meerkat racing,” where I need to be “head out of the boat” upwind and downwind to see what crazy puffs and shifts are coming our way. The No. 1 priority is keeping the rig in the air. It’s just us against the boat, but we both love these crazy days.

For the first race, we decide we like the left side of the racecourse and the pin is favored. We set up for a pin start, and although there is chaos around us, we focus on our boat control and distance to the line. We are about to start our first race of the Paris 2024 campaign in our favorite conditions—windy offshore, just like the Midwestern lakes we both grew up on.

We have a great start, and after one minute of being locked into speed, I look over my shoulder and see we’re punched out on the fleet. “Great start, great mode,” I tell Maggie. “If we get headed with pressure, let’s tack. We can tack and clear the fleet no problem.”

I know we’ve both looked over our shoulders and seen that once we complete our tack onto port we will be winning the race. These are the moments that live in my mind forever.

We win the race by a large margin, only to learn we were OCS—by inches. We flush that race and frustration knowing we are fast, have good boathandling and love these conditions. We continue on to race two and round the weather mark in the top three, but while setting the spinnaker, we were forced into a capsize by another team, causing us to finish 12th. That’s a lot of points in the first two qualifying races of a 12-race series, but our goal is not the results, so I reset my mind for race three, which we go out and win.

One of our strengths is our ability to recover from adversity. Before this regatta, our training time had been limited while Maggie recovered from a surgery in December 2021. We’d been progressing as Maggie figured out what her body could handle. It was only the week before the event in late March that we could finally manage five sailing days in a row at three hours each day. So, finishing this first three-race day and surprising ourselves with good speed and tactics was already a huge win. Winning that third race was a big deal.

The last time we sailed this event, in 2019, we struggled to keep our boat upright in the windy and rough conditions. Now, three years later, we had a fire in our bellies to prove that Palma wouldn’t take us down like last time. With our coach, Giulia Conti, and the US Sailing Team performance coach, James Lyne, we set regatta-­specific goals. We had no idea what to expect from our performance because we hadn’t seen the fleet in so long, and we hadn’t raced in a long time. It was a strange feeling, but it forced us to focus on our goals, doing the best we could with the tools we had and only working on things in our control.

To add another layer of complexity, the 49erFX class recently switched to new masts (formerly made by Southern Spars, now CST) and sails (switching from North Mylar to 3Di). We used this new equipment for only one week before the regatta and went into the event knowing that we would have a lot of experimenting to do with our settings.

The forecast called for a windy and cold week, with 12 fleet races and one medal race. Given that, we knew it would be a physical grind, especially for Maggie, but also a mental grind to battle tough conditions. With our tough results on the first day, we had little margin for error to qualify for the Gold Fleet (the top 25 boats overall after two days of racing), but we squeezed into it in 19th ­position overall.

The third day brought beautiful southwesterly conditions that dictated a must-go-right racetrack. The race committee called for four races, and the day was about boatspeed, good lanes to get right, and managing the massive waves downwind. I thought to myself, Let’s see what kind of comeback we can make in the overall results.

Sailing downwind in these conditions is all about finding the limit. The 49erFX bow is low to the water, so we try to stay as far back and hike as low as we can. Maggie pushes her weight into me, and we balance off each other while basically spooning in the back of the boat. I assess each wave and how we are going to get through it. We have simple phrases that translate into what Maggie needs to do with the spinnaker. For some waves, we have to slow and let them pass; for some waves, we can head up at the last ­second to “slice” it. If I misjudge a wave, I tell Maggie “stiff leg,” which means we might nosedive, so we push as hard as we can with our front leg to keep our weight back, hoping we don’t pearl. These types of days are demanding for the crew to work the spinnaker sheet through the range in the waves, and mentally taxing for me to make sure I am making the right call. When you add in other boats, and everyone’s going 18 knots, and not all of them are in control—downwind sailing gets very spicy. Survival is simple tactics and good boathandling.

Before the start of race four, we were excited about how we were sailing. I was exhausted and couldn’t imagine how Maggie was feeling. She is the toughest person I know, and despite the pain and exhaustion, she rallied. We split a Red Bull, charged each other up with some positive vibes and sent it.

That day, we moved up the standings and surprised ourselves with such a positive jump. We managed to have two top sevens, which are keeper races but nothing special. For the final race of the Gold Fleet series, the pin was favored. We agreed to start there, and fought hard with a pack of six other boats. We struggled with lanes throughout the race only to find out we got dinged with another OCS.

Despite this tough ending, I was proud of our team for delivering on our goals and how Maggie handled an insanely tough week. We hit the beach and were surprised when we found out we qualified for the medal race. We now had the opportunity to gain more medal race experience, which is so important for the long game.

It was a tricky one, with a puffy offshore breeze. We were late at the start, which put us back in the fleet. In the end, we finished ninth overall out of 60 teams. Looking back, despite the challenges, we remained rock-steady in our approach and are ever more driven to Paris 2024.

The post Olympic Training And Speedbumps appeared first on Sailing World.

When Team USA left Tokyo empty-handed, we were reminded that Olympic sailing is one corner of our sport that can generate as much ­controversy—OK, almost as much—as America’s Cup. But Team USA is changing.

Oh, you’ve heard that one before?

Let’s give it a think. Paul Cayard is the latest hopeful to step up as executive director of US Olympic Sailing and talk transformation. He’s taking on a firing-line job with guaranteed slings and arrows, and few guaranteed rewards, and it’s a job that won’t pay what he could be pulling in elsewhere. But once upon a time, Cayard was the kid who took a business degree to prepare himself as a professional sailor. And he studied languages because the work is international. And when he became a top dog on America’s Cup teams, he hauled sails with the boys because that says team. Cayard is Mr. Credibility.

His assessment: “When the Olympic game was bring-your-own, the US kicked butt. Then ISAF changed the rules to allow corporate sponsors, and other countries embraced the change. That was 1989, and it was a quantum shift. Before, the only full professionals were the Eastern Bloc sailors who were ‘in the military.’ The US didn’t match that shift. Until recently, we still played bring-your-own. To go to the ’04 Games in Athens, I spent $250,000, and I could afford that because I had a career under my belt. Our young people today don’t have that luxury as they try to compete against someone like Iain Percy who, as a gold medalist, gets paid that much every year to sail for the UK, with funding through their national lottery.”

More money. More coaching. Yadda, yadda and, of course, that’s all on the agenda. But ask Cayard about practical steps and you get answers. They’re about developing robust structures to support young sailors as they grow, promoting opportunities to sail in Olympic classes, partnering with the college sailing system, and building strong Olympic-classes ­competition inside the USA.

Let’s take them one at a time.

The AmericaOne Foundation backed Cayard’s America’s Cup bid in New Zealand in 2000, then pivoted to other goals that are paying off now. Cayard says: “We were blessed to have the vision of Larry Finch, Doug Smith and ‘Buddha’ Bob Billingham to pick one piece of the puzzle and tackle it. You need a pipeline of talent, and there’s no switch you can throw to open that spigot. It takes time. We had seen the way other countries were developing youth sailors. That was not happening here, so AmericaOne partnered with US Sailing in 2014 to create Project Pipeline. Along with the Olympic Development Program, that has proven itself with successes at the youth Worlds level. In 2019, we had five golds in nine classes, and we were the top nation. Now we’re building on that. ODP in 2021 had 150 kids benefitting from Olympic-level coaching. We want to grow that number to 250 over the next seven years.”

The unique North American system of college sailing in (mostly) FJs and C420s gets fingered for sucking up talent while developing excellence—but in a limited range. It’s also noted for providing a compelling social experience but not turning out 20-somethings equipped for the complexities of an Olympic campaign. In Cayard’s view, addressing that by adding an optional high-
performance track shouldn’t be a problem at all. “Sailing is the only college sport that goes on all year,” he says. “Every other sport has a season. To me, nine months of tacking and jibing FJs is a waste of talent for top sailors. There should be options.

“We can leave spring sailing as it is, and when people get to Nationals in May—if they’ve spent time the previous year cross-training in a 49er, FX or Nacra—that experience should be an asset. Then they get back into Olympic-class training in the summer with the option of continuing in the fall semester, and we can have an intercollegiate Olympic-classes regatta in Miami at the winter break. After that, it’s back to the familiar college format in spring to prove they haven’t forgotten how to sail FJs.”

Heh. Haven’t forgotten how to sail FJs…

Pulling this off may prove a mite more complicated than described, but we’ll come back to that. And it is important to be clear that, in Cayard’s vision, college sailing proceeds undisrupted. The people who belong in fall-semester college sailing have at it, while some of their team members go off on the Olympic track until the spring semester.

Eventually, the US ­sailing team might look more like the UK, with its oversupply of up-and-coming youth and its reliance on development squads. Mark Robinson, the UK team’s head of performance, comments: “Most countries would run squads if they could. It’s about having a team that can develop within itself.” Riding the same wavelength, Cayard says: “We’re a country that can build competent squads—our kite sailors are already there—and it is important to build those squads to make us more efficient with time and money. Athletes should train here, not abroad. This is a huge practical step. There are classes where, right now, we don’t have a depth of talent, so it makes no sense for someone looking to get competitive to fly to Kiel Week and finish 47th. That’s time and money wasted. There was a time when you could get great Olympic-class competition here, but not now. We have to rectify that. In Europe, you drive a couple of hours to a weekend regatta, and you’re competing against top sailors from who knows how many countries. We’ve grown from one Olympic-classes regatta in the US to three? Six? That’s a beginning.”

And that beginning provides a point to stop and catch a breath.

Cayard reflects: “It was not a foregone conclusion that I would take this on, but I’m emotionally invested. I am convinced that it is doable. There are these facts to address: An athlete can peak only two or three times per year. There is a science to that, and we need to apply the science. We need a coaching pipeline as well as a sailor pipeline. We need data and data analysis (there was a tech confab at Harken headquarters last fall) because we have to ask, will the best sailors move from the Nacra 15 to the Nacra 17 and blaze their own trail, or will they start from a higher level because we’re doing a better job of telling them what they need to know?

“I foresee a budget 50 percent bigger than in recent years,” Cayard says. “That will begin to provide better support for our frontline sailors. Right now, they spend too much time bartending at fundraisers to pay for coaching. The other component, and this is major, is to pull the trials back to the US. Would Kenny Keefe and I have gone to the 1984 trials if they had been in Holland or Japan? No. Would John Kostecki have gone to his trials if they were in New Zealand? No. And when you go overseas to sail a world championship that is part of your US trials, everything is skewed. You’re not sailing to win; you’re sailing to beat the other Americans. We can do better.”

Thank you, Paul. Now let’s weigh other perspectives regarding one item on your list because there is a long history of people, rightly or wrongly, looking at college sailing as a stumbling block to Olympic development.

Old Dominion University coach Mitch Brindley, who is also president of the Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association, sees “no definite plans for restructuring college sailing to accommodate the Olympic path. I’ve had one conversation with Cayard (at the time of this interview), but I look forward to more. We always try to work in concert with US Sailing’s Olympic efforts. As much as we’d love to sail skiffs and high-performance boats, the money for that is hard to come by. One of the beauties of college sailing is the relatively low cost of entry. That allows us to develop athletes who may not have had opportunities before.”

Per Cayard, an Olympic college track would be a bring-your-own-boat deal, at least for starters. And I don’t want to make it sound as if Brindley and Cayard are butting heads. What I think I hear from them is the bare beginning of a conversation in which the threads are not yet meeting in the middle.

Brindley wants you to know: “College sailing is successful, and we’re growing our number of varsity teams and full-time coaches. They raise the game, whether it’s happening at Tulane or Brown, both of which are relatively new as varsity teams. In any campus sport, only a few students matriculate to the Olympic movement, but with shorter races and more mixed racing, we see Olympic sailing in some aspects moving toward the college ­format. We’re glad to see them ­catching up.”

Good stinger, Mitch. And good reader, you will notice he left the door open. Regarding that door, Andrew Mollerus says, “I wish the high-­performance track had been around in my time,” meaning his years at Harvard, where he was a sailing team captain and All-American. Mollerus checked in from Marseilles, where he and Ian MacDiarmid were racing a 49er in the waters of the 2024 Games. His take: “Getting our top juniors into Olympic-class boats early is critical. The US is enjoying success at the youth level—thanks in large part to Leandro Spina and ODP—but there is a high attrition rate during and after college. Among all the possible remedies, the high-performance track that Paul proposes is the best solution.”

By way of counterpoint, in talking with college coaches, I encounter concerns about the logistics, including possible travel commitments for ­sailors who, more often than not, are academic high-achievers. “Just” sailing FJs is already a lot on top of classes and study. But it’s too early for debating because we don’t know what we’re debating beyond objections to the status quo and some big what-ifs. At a granular level, how might it affect teams to have a cadre of their (probably) most capable sailors jumping back into FJs and 420s for spring semester? Mollerus, a Phi Beta Kappa, believes: “The teams would benefit from an influx of lessons learned and technical skills that you don’t necessarily get from college sailing. As for Team USA, it’s impossible to change things overnight, but focusing the program on 2028, as they’re doing, is exactly right. We’re lucky that Cayard is driving this, given his level of respect and clout.”

And that’s where we came in. Among all of Cayard’s proposals for reinventing Team USA, building a high-performance track in college sailing is the most likely to provoke a lively conversation. So, wear your sunscreen. Strap on that PFD when the Y flag is flying. And hey, Paul—no ­pressure.

The post Rebooting the US Olympic Sailing Team appeared first on Sailing World.

Olympic gold medalists Hannah Mills MBE (GBR) and Eilidh McIntyre (GBR) were voted female 2021 Rolex World Sailor of the Year on Thursday 2 December in a virtual ceremony streamed live from the Royal Yacht Squadron in Cowes, UK.

Australia’s Tom Slingsby has won the male 2021 Rolex World Sailor of the Year in celebration of his achievements in three competitive classes over the past two years.

Mills and McIntyre claimed gold in Tokyo in the 470 class, a victory which made Mills the most successful female Olympic sailor of all time. This was her second Olympic gold, repeating her victory from Rio 2016 with her new partner. McIntyre won her first gold medal in Tokyo and followed in the footsteps of her father, Michael, who won gold at the 1988 Games in Seoul. The pair received 37% of the votes, making them the clear choice for this year’s female Rolex World Sailor of the Year award.

Slingsby secured 29 percent of the votes after defending his Moth World Championship, winning 13 of the 14 races, securing back-to-back 2019 and 2021 title wins. He has also set the standard in the global SailGP circuit, earning the season 1 title as Team CEO and Skipper of TeamAustralia, which is also currently top of the series leaderboard with just two events remaining in season 2. He capped a fantastic year on the water by being part of the crew of Comanche, winners of the 2021 Rolex Middle Sea Race.

A record-breaking 40,000 votes were cast this year to honour the achievements of sailors across all disciplines.

Speaking live at the awards ceremony, Hannah Mills, who is also a sustainability ambassador for the International Olympic Committee said, “I am completely blown away. The lineup this year was absolutely incredible. I am so proud of Eilidh for everything she put into this Olympic campaign, she was the absolute best teammate. I am really honored. I feel privileged to be a female in sailing right now, there are so many opportunities out there. I really hope to be a part of forging the pathway for female sailors of today and for the future. It is inspirational to be part of a federation like World Sailing who take sustainability so seriously and I feel so lucky to be involved in such an amazing sport.”

Eilidh McIntyre added, “I just want to say thank you to Hannah, and everyone for voting for us and for all of your support. We wouldn’t be here without all of the amazing women pushing us.”

Tom Slingsby said, “This is a huge honor for me. Thank you to everyone who voted. I remember when I was 15 years old, I wrote down my career goals and it was to win the Olympic Gold medal, win the America’s Cup and win World Sailor of the Year. I am very fortunate, this is the second time I have won the World Sailor of the Year award. I am so lucky to be in the position I am and to get these amazing opportunities. Congratulations to all the other guys, there were some unbelievable sailors nominated this year.”

World Sailing 11th Hour Racing Sustainability Award

The World Sailing 11th Hour Racing Sustainability Award went to the Sail Africa Youth Development Foundation for increasing the participation of ethnically diverse and female sailors in Durban, South Africa. In the time since launching, the number of girls racing has increased and podium positions have improved year on year. Sailing is now a much more multicultural sport.

The program has doubled as a life skills initiative, ensuring positive sustainable outcomes around alleviating poverty, reducing inequality, developing education and creating environmental awareness. The foundation won the Ethekwini Maritime Cluster Award for Empowering Youth in 2017 and was profiled as part of this year’s World Sailing Steering the Course program.

The 11th Hour Racing Sustainability Award celebrates the effective execution or ongoing delivery of high-impact, highly replicable sustainability initiatives that work to protect and restore the health of the ocean, and are aligned with the World Sailing Sustainability Agenda 2030. The award is open to National Federations, sailing clubs, event organizing committees, individual sailors, or any other sailing-related organizations.

The Sail Africa Youth Development Foundation will receive a 10,000 USD prize from 11th Hour Racing to fund their continued sustainability efforts as well as the iconic trophy made from recycled carbon fiber from an America’s Cup boat, infused with bio resin.

Nigel Milln, Chairman of Sail Africa, said, “This award really means a lot to us and Sail Africa. Our focus on racing sustainability and looking after our oceans is a huge benefit to Africa and to smaller development bodies like ourselves. It gives encouragement to the rest of the world that together we can make a difference. We are contributing to the newly-developed South Africa and giving enthusiasm and confidence to the people through sailing. It is an amazing thing that sailing does for everybody and we are very grateful to be a part of it.”

Todd McGuire, managing director, 11th Hour Racing, said, “Congratulations to the four finalists of the World Sailing 11th Hour Racing Sustainability Award. You were chosen from a highly competitive group of non-profit organizations, teams, individuals, events, sailing classes, and manufacturers. You are the innovators within the sailing industry, focused on the sustainability of our sport and restoring the health of our ocean.”

Quanhai Li, World Sailing President, said, “Sailing is blessed with so many talented, determined and accomplished athletes. The accomplishments of this year’s nominees are truly inspirational and every one of the sailors on the shortlist deserves to win Rolex World Sailor of the Year. My congratulations go to Hannah Mills and Eilidh McIntyre, and Tom Slingsby. We look forward to seeing what you do next.

“I would like to also draw special attention to Sail Africa Youth Development Foundation, winner of the 11th Hour Sustainability Award. This has been a life-changing project and ensures that under-represented communities have the opportunity to take part while showing that the sport prioritizes responsible development and inclusion. The potential for this project to be replicated is huge and it will make a lasting difference to the sport and to the world.”

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World Sailing Results and Reports

In the Nacra 17, Riley Gibbs (Long Beach, Calif.) and Anna Weis (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) submitted a strong 3rd place performance in the double-points medal race and ended their event in 9th overall. Team USA’s Stu McNay (Providence, R.I.) and Dave Hughes (Miami, Fla.) will compete in the Men’s 470 medal race tomorrow, while Nikole Barnes (St. Thomas, U.S.V.I.) and Lara Dallman-Weiss (Shoreview, Minn.) narrowly missed qualifying in the Women’s 470 and finished 12th overall.

For Gibbs and Weis, who began their campaign three years ago in the high-performance foiling mixed multihull, an excellent showing in the medal race capped a rapid ascent through the international Nacra 17 ranks. The Pan American Games gold medalists executed one of the strongest starts in the fleet, and used that as a springboard to finish 3rd in the race and 9th overall.

“I thought we did a really good job with our [starting] line homework and our procedures going into it,” said Gibbs, who medaled at the Youth World Sailing Championship in 2014. “We’ve developed a process with starting and Anna was doing a really good job calling our distance from the line and where boats were behind us. It was really nice to have everyone else fighting each other out there, and that gave us a green light to have our own start. And it’s nice that we were able to execute something that we’ve been working on for the last three years or so.”

Gibbs and Weis earned single-digit scores in 8 of the 13 races they sailed this week, a few of which involved comebacks from deep in the highly-accomplished pack. “I think our strength of the week was our ability to rally and reset after having a bad race or errors,” said Weis, who along with Gibbs was coached by Beijing 2008 U.S. Olympian Sally Barkow (Nashotah, Wis.). “Having that in our back pocket, and being able to reset and really move forward and focus on one race at a time really helped us out and allowed us to compete in each moment.”

Gibbs was quick to mention that a key part of their ability to become competitive in the international fleet was a strong group of teams back home in the U.S. “We had amazing training partners like Bora Gulari, Louisa Chafee, Helena Scutt, Sarah Newberry, David Liebenberg, Ravi Parent, and Caroline Atwood. Making the medal race here is an accomplishment, and to be able to say that they’ve really helped us out I think is really special. They should feel connected to this.”

Weis also expressed hope that seeing the visually dynamic foiling multihulls on NBC back home would boost the sport in the U.S. “I hope the coverage on TV inspires more young women to get involved and get into the class because it’s mixed gender,” said Weis, who in addition to her multihull credentials was the 2016 Women’s Singlehanded National Champion in the Laser Radial. “I think sometimes girls shy away from [mixed gender sailing]. But I think the mixed gender aspect creates a really fun and challenging dynamic. So hopefully that inspires more females to get involved.”

In the Men’s 470, Stu McNay (Providence, R.I.) and Dave Hughes (Miami, Fla.) faced a do-or-die battle to get into the medal race heading into the final two qualifying races today. With an 8,11, they moved up to 10th overall secured their spot in tomorrow’s final. However, the 4th place finishers from Rio 2016 were mathematically eliminated from medal contention here in Tokyo.

“At the at the end of the day, we’re happy to have made the medal race,” said Hughes, who is competing at his second consecutive Games as an athlete after also coaching the Team USA 49er at London 2012. “This regatta has been a knife fight and the standard that this 470 fleet has shown is impressive. Our class has really grown during this five-year period since the last Olympics, and it is amazing to see what people have done to build their performance, ourselves included. It is just so inspiring to sail at this level against competitors who we’ve known for years, and who we really respect.”

While a medal may be out of reach, McNay and Hughes have the opportunity to significantly advance up the standings tomorrow. The Americans will enter the race in 10th overall with 78 points, and could advance as high as 6th overall.

“Tomorrow, the plan is absolutely to win the medal race,” said Hughes. “If you’re not willing to totally grab these opportunities, then you really shouldn’t be in the medal race. It will also be bittersweet, because tomorrow represents the last two medal races of this era of Olympic 470 sailing [since the class will become a mixed-gender Olympic event moving forward]. It’s absolutely an honor to be part of that.”

In the Women’s 470, first-time Olympians Nikole Barnes (St. Thomas, U.S.V.I.) and Lara Dallman-Weiss (Shoreview, Minn.) were called over the start line in Race 9, and earned a UFD penalty. In the final qualifying race, they came in contact with the pin end of the line during the start, and finished 19th. Unfortunately, despite battling in the top ten overall for much of the past five days of racing, Barnes and Dallman-Weiss dropped to 12th on Tuesday and narrowly missed medal race qualification.

Despite the pressure of a medal race berth being up for grabs today, the Americans sought to execute strong starts and control their destiny. “We’re not a team that usually gets letter scores; I think that’s usually one of our strengths,” said Dallman-Weiss. “Throughout the regatta we saw that the first beat was just so important, and on this last day we wanted to fight for a great spot [on the starting line] and it just didn’t work out. Olympic sailing is all about fighting until the last race.”

While the team expressed disappointment at missing the medal race, they also said that they were pleased with their progress since teaming up three years ago. “In our [pre-pandemic] World Championship before the most recent Worlds in Vilamoura [Portugal] this year, we finished 30th. Then in 2021 we finished seventh at the Worlds. The numbers [from Tokyo] don’t show the full story of our team, and all the hard work that has gone into it,” said Barnes, who is an active-duty officer in the United States Coast Guard. “Of course, we wanted to make the medal race and to be in medal contention. But I guess this is the universe’s way of saying ‘not this time, nice job, but keep pushing.’ So, it’s heartbreaking, but we also learned a ton and we left it all out on the water.”

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LIVE RESULTS

The highlights of the day for the US Sailing Team came in the Men’s RS:X and Men’s Laser classes, where years of effort and steady improvement paid off for two athletes competing in their second consecutive Olympic regatta. In a day five that was a close copy of day four from a weather perspective, Enoshima delivered wind, waves and close racing among the world’s best dinghy, board and multihull sailors.

RS:X board sailor Pedro Pascual (Miami, Fla.) entered day five of the event with a chance to cement his substantial improvement from Rio 2016 by earning a medal race berth. A 7th place in the final full-fleet race clinched the significant career milestone for the Miami native. “In the final race, I just knew that I had to keep my confidence up, and not worry about the medal race too much,” said Pascual, who finished 28th in his Olympic debut five years ago. “The first two races didn’t go my way, and I figured it couldn’t be three in a row.”

Pascual earned six single-digit scores across 12 races after never fished higher than 20th in Rio. “It’s been a hard five years,” said Pascual. “I made a commitment to improving after Rio, and I’m proud and excited to represent Team USA in the medal race on Saturday.” Saturday’s RS:X medal race will feature 10 competitors, and will count for double points. Pascual enters the medal race in 9th overall, and a chance to move up as high as 8th.

In the Laser, Charlie Buckingham (Newport Beach, Calif.) had one of the best performances by an American sailor in the men’s singlehanded class in recent memory, with his 3, 2 scoreline on the day trailing only that of regatta leader Matt Wearn (AUS), who notched a 1,1. “The two races were pretty similar,” said Buckingham, a two-time College Sailor of the Year. “The key was to get off the line and hike as hard as you can. It was a speed race, and I had pretty good speed today, so that served me well.”

Buckingham now stands in 8th overall, and the top-10 field in the Laser features a notably tight points spread heading into the final day of full-fleet racing on Friday. “The goal for tomorrow is to have another day like today. The beginning of the regatta was a bit up and down. I knew I had to put in a good day today, and that’s the plan tomorrow as well.”

In the Men’s 470, four-time Olympian Stu McNay (Providence, R.I.) and Rio 2016 returner Dave Hughes (Miami, Fla.) finished 9, 10 on the day, and sit in 11th overall. The 4th place finishers from Rio flashed their well-documented speed in both races but encountered frustration along the way. McNay and Hughes rounded the first mark of Race 3 in 3rd, but fell to 9th at the finish in a deep class featuring a 13-point spread between 3rd and 12th places overall. In Race 4, the veteran pair had a tough start, rounded the first mark in 15th, but recovered to 10th.

In the men’s heavyweight Finn class, Luke Muller (Ft. Pierce, Fla.) had a tough Race 5 to open the day, but bounced back in a big way by rounding the first weather mark of Race 6 in the lead. The 2013 U.S. Youth Champion battled with a far-launched group of leaders before ultimately finishing 4th and ending the day in 12th overall.

“The last two days I had a lot of trouble downwind, but I think I was just doing a bit too much and not letting myself feel the waves,” said Muller.  “After the first upwind of that last race today, rounding in front without a lot of pressure on, I just kind of slowed things down and got on some waves. It was really nice to finish on a high going into the [Finn class] rest day. We have a lot of racing ahead and a lot of work to be done.”

In the Nacra 17, Riley Gibbs (Long Beach, Calif.) and Anna Weis (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) had some notable moments, including rounding the first mark of Race 6 in the lead. Ultimately, Gibbs and Weis finished with a 6, 1, (13) on the day, and sit in 10th overall.

“I think we’re fast but pretty inconsistent,” said Gibbs. “We’re working on our technique downwind, and on working together. I think we can race with anyone in this fleet, and we’re just excited for the days ahead.” Weis added that racing a foiling class in big swells requires both mental and physical resilience. “It’s pretty full on. You have to really be ‘on it’ every second. You can’t let up your focus for one instant. As the race goes on, and you get tired, it becomes a bigger mental challenge, but a rewarding one if you can keep the hammer down.”

In the Women’s 470, Nikole Barnes (St. Thomas, U.S.V.I.) and Lara Dallman-Weiss (Shoreview, Minn.) scored a (15), 13 and now sit in 13th overall. The pair have so far exclusively raced on the inshore “Enoshima” course during the first four races of their series, and will get to try their hands at the “Zushi” course further offshore on Friday.

Farrah Hall (Annapolis, Md.) concluded her event with a 16, 16, 16 in the 27-board Women’s RS:X fleet, ending the regatta in 15th overall. As full-fleet racing has ended, and Hall is not in the top-10 overall, she will not progress to the medal race. Tokyo 2020 is the second Olympics for Hall, who finished 20th at London 2012. Hall raced in heavy winds and big waves for much of the week, conditions she noted she has struggled with in the past, but showed significant improvement off Enoshima.

“As far as competition goes, this is one of the best regattas that I’ve ever had,” said Hall. “My speed was awesome. I was smoking around the course and I had some good fights. What I’m really happy with is that I gave 100 percent, did everything that I could, and I sailed well. I didn’t make any major mistakes and I finished with a really good regatta for me. In London, I was a little bit less prepared just because I was more of a rookie and I wasn’t extremely happy with my regatta. But at Tokyo 2020 I can say that I’m very happy with this regatta. I have a huge appreciation for the RS:X class, where you have to be a real athlete to sail it.”

Racing will continue on Friday, July 30, with all classes competing except for the Finn and RS:X fleets, which will have an off day. The 49er and 49erFX will return to action.

Racing will continue on Thursday, July 29, with all classes competing except for the 49er and 49erFX fleets, which will have an off day. The NBC Olympics website is hosting the Tokyo 2020 sailing event for U.S. audiences starting at 11:00 PM EDT (8:00 PM PDT) during the event. There are two televised race areas per day, the “Enoshima” and “Kamakura” courses. As the classes rotate through each course daily, different athletes will be featured on the broadcast.

The post Wind and Pressure Turn Up As U.S. Team Stays in the Hunt appeared first on Sailing World.

Olympics is happening now and soon the medals will be given out, the tales of heroics and tragedy that is the 2021 Olympics will be written for all time. As we watch from afar, I think we should all remember why the Olympics are so important, and how our United States Sailing Team is an overwhelmingly positive force for sailing in this country.

In our sport, there are lots of regattas, but there are a very small number that really represent the pinnacle of our sport, and none more than the Olympic Games. So many of the legends of sailing made their mark in the Olympics; Elvstrom, Melges, Schumann, Conner, Ainslie. Now there is a new crop of top Olympic sailors, and these men and women are very, very good. They are superb athletes. They train relentlessly and scientifically. They have risen through the ranks over many years, and they continue to be driven by the pursuit of sailing their boat a little bit faster.

The U.S. Sailing Team is a diverse and powerful group. In each of the 10 classes, only one team from the U.S. can go and compete, so the competition for those spots is very intense. Every team had a different path to securing their Olympic dream, and each one has many great stories to tell. These athletes have had to deal with failure as well as success. Those that dealt with it well often went on to further success.

Some of our team is relatively young, and this is their first Olympic experience. Our FX (Stephanie Roble and Maggie Shea), Nacra 17 (Riley Gibbs and Anna Weiss), Women’s 470 (Nikki Barns and Laura Dallman-Weiss) and Finn (Luke Muller) sailors are representing the United States at the highest level for the first time. They bring a battle hardened yet youthful passion to their efforts, and many will be back again in future Olympics, faster and smarter. Some of our team are true veterans, and have been sailing hard at the highest levels for ten to twenty years. Our Men’s 470 (Stu McNay and David Hughes), Radial (Paige Railey), and RS:X (Farrah Hall and Pedro Pascual) are truly battle hardened, and they are bringing their tremendous experience and perseverance to the Olympic Regatta.

Many of the U.S. athletes have benefited from a well-organized domestic training program, where the top American teams train together and share coaching. This has been providing tremendous benefits, especially in the Covid year. We have also seen our team being pushed hard by youth sailors who are working their way up the Olympic pipeline. Some of these will be representing the U.S. in Marseilles in 2024! The Olympic sailing infrastructure in this country is pretty lean, but also highly effective, with strong leadership form Paul Cayard and Luther Carpenter, and dedicated, professional staff and coaches. The program is on a positive trajectory and there is a lot of optimism about the future.

Think of what an aspiring Olympic sailor went through in the last two years. Until March 2020 your path was clear, the regattas were set, the training partners lined up. Then everything changed in a flash, and the whole sport had to figure it out. Some athletes stopped training but the majority kept at it, despite the uncertain future. Together with their coaches, they had to find a new way to train, new ways to get better without the usual regatta/training camp routine.

The good teams figured it out and used this time to train smarter and get even better. Some teams, including some American teams, used this extra year to go from average to top form. Even when the one-year delay was announced, there was a lot of uncertainty about would the Olympics actually go ahead. The top Olympic athletes find a way to stay strong, including our American team. I am inspired and motivated by the commitment, the expertise, and the teamwork that our USST exemplifies. All sailors should be proud to have these athletes representing the United States. They represent the ideals that we all share: prepare well, play hard but fair, get better each day.

The post Inspired by Our Inspirational Olympic Sailors appeared first on Sailing World.

SAILING REPORT FROM WORLD SAILING’S ANDY RICE

The US Sailing Team continued to be paced by Men’s RS:X athlete Pedro Pascual (Miami, Fla.), who retained his top-10 position through six races. Pascual logged scores of 9,5,15 and noted that guessing where the next band of breeze would appear was key to racing near the front of the fleet today. “The conditions were interesting, to say the least,” said Pascual. “There were huge shifts and wind gusts, and it was all about staying in pressure. I managed to do pretty well, especially the first and second races, just [in terms of] the feeling the pressure and playing out in the front of the pack.”

With the wind dropping in the later races of the day, and with ocean swells populating the course, the board athletes found themselves in marginal planing conditions. Pumping became crucial to boatspeed, and the athletic challenge of sailing in an Olympic windsurfing event was on full display. “RS:X racing is one of the most physical events here,” said Pascual. “You get huge speed changes between pumping or not pumping. With the big swells, the goal was to pump as much as possible. We could surf waves today on the upwind legs, and staying on those waves as long as possible through pumping hard was key. On the downwinds, you’re able to go a little lower and faster if you’re pumping. So, it was a pretty physical day and working to manage those loads on the race was very important.”

A defining challenge of singlehanded sailing is maintaining an optimal balance in terms of energy expenditure, focus on speed, and tactical awareness. “I was definitely looking around a lot today, and making sure that I had some mental capacity to devote to tactics,” said Pascual. “I can tell my training paid off because I was able to balance a stronger physical and mental load than during my last Olympics in Rio.”

In the Men’s Laser, Charlie Buckingham (Newport Beach, Calif.) fell from 9th overall to 18th after scoring 22, 18 on the day. Women’s RS:X athlete Farrah Hall (Annapolis, Md.) scored 12, 18, 18 and remained 17th overall. In the Women’s Laser Radial event, Paige Railey (Clearwater, Fla.) continued to struggle in the unstable offshore conditions. Railey added a 25, 36 to her scoreline and is in 39th overall.

The third day of racing will see the addition of the Finn, 49er and 49erFX classes to the events off Enoshima. Team USA will be represented by Luke Muller (Ft. Pierce, Fla.) in the Finn, who finished 6th at the Finn Gold Cup (World Championship) in 2021. Stephanie Roble (East Troy, Wis.) and Maggie Shea (Wilmette, Ill.), who won bronze at the most recent 49erFX World Championship in 2019, will compete in the women’s skiff event. Team USA will not be represented in the Men’s 49er event at Tokyo 2020.

RESULTS

The NBC Olympics website is hosting the Tokyo 2020 sailing events for U.S. audiences starting at 11:00 PM EDT (8:00 PM PDT). There are two televised race areas per day, the “Enoshima” and “Kamakura” courses. As the classes rotate through each course daily, different athletes will be featured on the broadcast.

The post Pascual Remains Top of the Fleet; U.S. Laser sailors Struggle on Day 2 appeared first on Sailing World.

In this week’s Zoom-up Jonathan McKee and Ed Baird share their thoughts on the GL52 racing at the Helly Hansen NOOD Regatta Chicago, and Gary Jobson reports back from the E-Scow Nationals and the ousting of the doublehanded offshore Olympic discipline.

The post Around the Sailing World, Episode 44 appeared first on Sailing World.

US Sailing has confirmed the names of the 13 sailors who will represent the United States at the Olympic Games this coming July and August near Tokyo, Japan. The team hails from nine U.S. states and territories including California, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, New York, Rhode Island, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Wisconsin. The finalization of the team roster comes after nearly five years campaigning by not only the 13 Olympic Team nominees, but dozens of additional American sailors who were part of U.S. Sailing’s Olympic Team selection process.

“I know how much work it takes to earn selection to Team USA, and what a special honor it is to represent your country in the Olympics,” said Paul Cayard, Executive Director of U.S. Olympic Sailing. “I’m excited to support this group of 13 talented athletes as they race in Enoshima. I’m also proud of the larger community of U.S. Olympic-class sailors that competed in the selection process and pushed the Games team. The combined strength and depth of our Tokyo 2020 nominees, of our larger national team and of our development program is key to our success this summer and beyond.”

With the dates of the Games significantly impacted for only the fourth time in the 125-year history of the modern Olympic movement, athletes on the US Sailing Team, the annually-selected national team, had to adapt to a situation that was unprecedented in multiple respects.

“The pandemic created an interesting challenge for the world of Olympic Sailing,” said Luther Carpenter, Head Coach of the US Sailing Team. “Our sailors and coaches had to stay home or close to home, respect the virus, and brainstorm how to be productive. We worked to capitalize on the positives of the ‘zoom world,’ and we dove deep into all the things we never typically have time for. I am proud of our sailors for growing as a team, collaborating and interacting with experts and U.S. medalists from prior Olympic Games.”

The final year before the Games would usually involve relentless periods of relocation, training and competition for sailors around the world. The onset of COVID-19, and the ensuing travel restrictions, only raised the stakes for all competitors worldwide.

Team USA returns Games-tested athletes to the Olympic regatta in five of the nine sailing classes in which Americans will compete at Tokyo 2020, giving the group a strong core of experience. Athletes in four classes will make their Olympic debut, and the U.S. will not compete in the Men’s 49er event after narrowly missing national qualification in that class.

“Our team’s post-lockdown regatta results give us confidence that the pandemic training plan and execution is working,” said Carpenter. “That’s what the Olympics is all about; athletes performing to the highest of standards, made possible by unquestionable standards of preparation and training.”

The Games of the XXXII Olympiad will take place from July 23 to August 8, 2021, and the sailing events will be based on the island of Enoshima, approximately 35 miles southwest of Tokyo. The largest sporting event in the world, the Olympic Games will feature approximately 11,000 athletes from over 200 countries competing in 339 medal events. The sailing events will feature up to 350 athletes competing in ten classes.

All nominations to the Tokyo 2020 U.S. Olympic Team are subject to approval by the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee.

Tokyo 2020 U.S. Olympic Sailing Team Nominees (listed in order of date of selection):

49erFX (Women’s Two-Person High Performance Skiff)

Stephanie Roble (East Troy, Wis.) Maggie Shea (Wilmette, Ill.) – Team Roble-Shea has been on the 49erFX campaign trail together since the fall of 2016, earning several medals at major events including the 2019 Pan American Games and 2019 Hempel World Cup Series-Genoa. A highlight was a bronze medal at the 49erFX World Championship in 2020. Tokyo 2020 will be the first Olympic Games appearances for both Roble and Shea.

Nacra 17 (Mixed Two-Person Multihull)

Riley Gibbs (Long Beach, Calif.) and Anna Weis (Fort Lauderdale, FL) – The U.S. multihull pair were Pan American Games Champions in 2019 and also earned bronze at the 2020 Oceania Championship. At the 2019 Worlds, they finished 14th. Gibbs and Weis will compete in their first career Olympics.

ILCA 6 – Radial (Women’s One-Person Dinghy)

Paige Railey (Clearwater, Fla.) – Tokyo 2020 will be the third consecutive Olympic Games appearance for the accomplished Railey, a five-time World Championship medalist, a Rolex World Sailor of the Year, a three-time Pan American Games medalist and a US Sailing Rolex Yachtswoman of the Year.

Finn (Men’s One-Person Heavyweight Dinghy)

Luke Muller (Ft. Pierce, Fla.) – Following multiple national championship wins as a youth Laser sailor, Muller medaled in the 2019 Finn Hempel World Cup Series-Miami and logged a career-best 6th place finish at the 2021 Finn Gold Cup (World Championship) in Porto, Portugal. Tokyo 2020 will be Muller’s first career Olympics.

ILCA 7 – Standard (Men’s One-Person Dinghy)

Charlie Buckingham (Newport Beach, Calif.) – The Laser North American Champion, two-time College Sailor of the Year and Lima 2019 Pan American Games Bronze Medalist will sail at his second consecutive Olympic Games. Buckingham has had a strong run of recent results, including winning the 2020 Italian Olympic Class Championship, taking 6th overall at the 2020 Laser European Championships, and 4th overall at the 2020 Kieler Woche.

Women’s RS:X (Women’s Board)

Farrah Hall (Annapolis, MD) – Hall has medaled in several RS:X events including the 2011 Pan American Games, the 2012 US Sailing Rolex Miami OCR, the 2018 North American Championships, and took gold at the 2015 Semaine Olympique Francaise. Tokyo 2020 marks Hall’s second appearance on the Olympic stage, following her appearance at the London 2012 Games.

Men’s RS:X (Men’s Board)

Pedro Pascual (Miami, Fla.) – Pascual won the RS:ONE European Championship before making gold fleet at the 2016 RS:X Worlds and winning the 2020 Sailing World Cup Miami. Pascual will sail in his second career Olympics following his Rio 2016 appearance.

Men’s 470 (Men’s Two-Person Dinghy)

Stu McNay (Providence, R.I.) and Dave Hughes (Miami, Fla.) – McNay will compete at his fourth consecutive Olympic Games, and his second with teammate Hughes. The veteran pair have consistently challenged for medals since teaming up in 2012, and have earned dozens of podium finishes at the national, World Cup and Continental levels. McNay and Hughes head into the Games after a 5th place finish at the 2021 World Championships.

Women’s 470 (Women’s Two-Person Dinghy)

Nikole Barnes (St. Thomas, USVI) and Lara Dallman-Weiss (Shoreview, Minn.) – Three-time All-American collegiate sailor and active-duty U.S. Coast Guard Lieutenant Nikole Barnes will team up with 2016 Farr 40 North American Champion Lara Dallman-Weiss in their first Olympic Games appearances. Their 7th at the 2021 World Championship is a career-best to date.

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