US Sailing Team at ISAF Sailing World Cup Hyères - Overall
by Will Ricketson, US Sailing 27 Apr 2015 12:19 BST
22-26 April 2015
After competing on medal race day at ISAF Sailing World Cup Hyères, the US Sailing Team Sperry finished with four boats in the top eight overall. All American athletes competing on Sunday finished in the top half of their medal race, with the highlight being a wire-to-wire medal race victory in heavy air by top-ranked US Laser Charlie Buckingham (Newport Beach, Calif.). A global TV audience was able to watch the medal races live via ISAF and ESPN3, bringing high-performance Olympic sailing directly to tens of thousands of fans.
"The racing in Europe provides a top-level experience for US Sailing Team Sperry athletes," said Josh Adams, Managing director of US Olympic Sailing. "Our aim is to close the gap to the Olympic podium, and US athletes are making good progress toward that goal."
The Women's 470 team of Annie Haeger (East Troy, Wisc.) and Briana Provancha (San Diego, Calif.) scored another top-five finish at one of the toughest Olympic-class events in the world, and spent much of the regatta in podium position. After dealing with mostly light air all week, the team was excited to stretch their legs in some big breeze on Sunday. "It was nuts [out there]. We've had a really light air event, and [today] it was pretty much full on with big waves, so it was great for the spectators," said Provancha. "In general we were looking to win a side of the line, so we sent it left and won the pin. It was the first time we've really executed [well] off the start line in a medal race, so that was a big team win for us. We had some height issues upwind, but fought back."
When asked if it can be difficult to get fully tuned up in the short amount of time each fleet has on the medal course prior to racing, Provancha confirmed that to be the case. "It's definitely a challenge. Usually when we race we have an hour and a half before the start to feel out the breeze and get the tuning right, and that's definitely when experience comes into play. We are really getting better at that." Haeger and Provancha's coach, three-time 470 world champion Dave Ullman (Newport Beach, Calif.) said that they will spend a significant amount of time on the water this Spring and Summer to hone their abilities. "We're on an upward trend," said Ullman."
Buckingham's speed around the Laser course on Sunday was noticeable enough to generate discussion around the boat park well after his medal race victory ended. Laser Radial World Champion Paige Railey (Clearwater, Fla.) was fired up after watching her teammate perform, and described his pace downwind as "incredible." Buckingham himself took more of a big-picture approach toward analyzing his performance. "There's a couple things I'm working on to make a bit of a jump, but things are definitely moving in the right direction as we get to the more important part of this season, especially with the [Olympic] Test Event and the Pan American Games coming up, and also as the Trials and Olympics approach. I'm just trying to climb my way up there." Buckingham finished 8th overall in Hyères.
Railey also submitted an excellent medal race, finishing third in the race and 7th overall in the Laser Radial. "I wish I would have done better, but we saw major improvements in skills I have never been able to conquer in my sailing career," said Railey. "Definitely looking forward to the next event, and placing better."
In the men's heavyweight Finn dinghy, Caleb Paine (San Diego, Calif.) continues to demonstrate that he belongs among the top contenders in the class. Paine has notched several top-ten performances at the highest level in the past twelve months, and was in first for much of today's Finn medal race. "I'm a bit impatient, and I want [to make all possible progress] now, and for the pieces to come together all the time, but it's a work in progress and I'm happy with where I am and where I'm going," said Paine.
Just missing the medal race in the Men's 470 was Stu McNay (Providence, R.I) and Dave Hughes (San Diego, Calif.). McNay and Hughes recorded the best finish by Americans in the two-person Olympic dinghy in 14 years (5th overall) at the 2014 World Championships. They had also distinguished themselves by making it to the medal race at each event they attended in 2014. Unfortunately at this regatta it was not to be. "We were happy to finish strong with a 4th in the final [full-fleet] race, but in the end we were 11th overall and missed the medal race by one spot," said McNay. "There were definitely some missed opportunities that we look forward to capitalizing on next time."
To see sights and sounds from ISAF Sailing World Cup Hyères through an American lens, visit the US Sailing Team Sperry media hub.
Results can be found here.