Rio Games: All-Star Coaching for US Sailing Team

The history of Sailing at the Olympic Games gives historians pause when asked about favorites. It is not a normal regatta, it happens only every four years, and leading contenders fail all the time.

While the US sailors hope to erase the hiccup at the 2012 Games when they got kept off the podium for the first time since 1936 Berlin, they will be facing the vagaries of Guanabara Bay in Rio de Janeiro. Given the venue’s wacky winds and currents, the official acronym will be SMH (look it up)

But just like the 2012 Games, the US team enters the Rio Olympics with medal contenders. The Form Guide includes the women’s 470 crew of Annie Haeger (East Troy, WI) and Briana Provancha (San Diego, CA); the men’s 470 crew of Stuart McNay (Providence, RI) and David Hughes (Miami, FL); and Laser Radial sailor Paige Railey (Clearwater, FL).

Others might break through to the podium, but it’s a young team and many sailors are working toward 2020.

However, if the sailors sat out and all the coaches took to the race course, the smart money would be betting red, white, and blue.

The team is led by two-time Olympic medalist Charlie McKee as high performance director. Among those assisting McKee are:

• Mark Reynolds, the most successful U.S. Olympic sailor with two golds and a silver, who coaches Laser sailor Charlie Buckingham (Newport Beach, CA).
• Dave Ullman, a National Sailing Hall of Fame inductee and former Rolex Yachtsman of the Year, who coaches Haeger-Provancha.
• Morgan Reeser, an Olympic medalist who is coaching McNay-Hughes.
• Jonathan McKee – a two-time Olympic medalist who is coaching the Nacra 17 catamaran crew of Bora Gulari (Detroit, MI) and Louisa Chafee (Warwick, RI).
• Luther Carpenter, who has helped four American teams win medals in three different types of boats in six consecutive Olympics. Carpenter is coaching Finn sailor Caleb Paine (San Diego, CA).
• Dave Dellenbaugh, who was tactician and starting helmsman for the winning crew in the 1992 America’s Cup, joins the team as technical adviser.

“It’s an all-star squad, no doubt,” Paine said. “When you get that much wisdom, you’re learning something every time you have dinner with them and hanging out. Everything they spit out is valuable.”

Source: Associated Press

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