Ramping up Olympic sailing support

The third and final stage of the 2019 Oakcliff Triple Crown Series wrapped up with big breeze in five Olympic classes – Nacra 17, 49er, 49erFX, 470W, and 470M – on October 5-6 in Oyster Bay, NY. Hosted by Oakcliff Sailing, the high-performance training center focused on five of the 10 Olympic events, providing a pool of up to $500,000 in prize grants for the top finishers.

For the 49er and Nacra sailors, this regatta was the last stop in North America before booting up for their World Championship on November 29-December 8 in Auckland, New Zealand. Additionally, the 2019 Worlds begins the USA selection series for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

“The Oakcliff Triple Crown Series has been the perfect domestic training that we’ve needed leading into Worlds,” said Anna Tunnicliffe-Tobias who took first in the 49erFX with skipper Paris Henken, both aiming for the Tokyo 2020. Henken competed in the Rio 2016 where she took 10th in the 49erFX and Tunnicliffe-Tobias won the Laser Radial in Beijing 2008.

In the 470 Men’s division, Olympic veterans Stu McNay and Dave Hughes completed a hat trick with their third win of the series, earning a total of $50,000 of prize grants to fund their campaign for Tokyo 2020. Nevin Snow and Dane Wilson won the first two stages and narrowly missed a hat trick of their own in Stage 3. They finished just two points behind Ian Barrows and Mitchell Kiss.

With the bunkhouse at the Oakcliff Sailing facility filled with Olympic sailors and hopefuls from the US, Canada, and Mexico, Executive Director Dawn Riley met with the sailors to discuss the future of Olympic sailing and how to best allocate the resources available as Oakcliff ramps up its support in Olympic Sailing.

“The Oakcliff Triple Crown Series has been a huge benefit to our campaign since year one [2017], especially financially,” commented Atlantic Brugman who took second in the 470 Women’s division finale with her sister Nora, finishing just two points behind Carmen and Emma Cowles. “The prize grants we’ve won have allowed us to do a lot of racing internationally and that is huge for us.”

In the Nacra 17 class, Riley Gibbs and Anna Weiss found victory. After finishing just shy of first place in Stage 2, this win put them in first overall for the series. “Our training schedule is typically four days on, one day off,” commented Weiss. “We push hard in the gym and on the water and with nutrition. We try to get an edge any way we can.”

Oakcliff Triple Crown Series 2019
September 14-15
September 28-29
October 5-6

Source: Francis George, Oakcliff Sailing