America One Racing Performance Report

America One Racing, as the largest private financial supporter of sailors who strive to win at the highest levels, provides their 2024 Mid-Year Report:

PARIS 2024 OLYMPICS:
The USA took home one bronze medal out of 10 events from the Paris Games. The bronze medal is to be celebrated. However, this is not America One Racing’s definition of success for the USA as a Sailing nation!

With the next Olympic games in Los Angeles in 2028, the USA has the unique opportunity to take advantage of hosting Olympic sailing on our home waters in just four years. A lot of groundwork and planning is already underway at America One Racing, and there is much more extensive work to be done.

America One Racing (A1R) is extremely proud of Ian Barrows, Hans Henken, and our staff coach, Charlie McKee! Their Bronze medal is the result of years of intense work, performance planning, periodization of training and well-timed equipment acquisition.

Working as a Squad, with domestic training partners Nevin Snow and Mac Agnese, Borrows/Henken created a platform to openly exchanged information which led to continuous improvement over three years.

This is a class that the USA failed to qualify for in Tokyo 2020, and now they are in the top three in the World! That is progress, and because of the Squad mentality adopted, there is a launch pad in place for LA2028.

Beyond winning a bronze medal, Hans and Ian showed the rest of the USA Olympic Sailing ecosystem, the power of the Squad. America One Racing will continue to support the US Squad methodology and collaborative mindset as we work toward LA2028.

Two other athletes who benefited greatly from their willingness to work with, and cultivate, a squad are our iQFOiLers, Dominique Stater and Noah Lyons. Starting with the iQ less than three years ago, both Dominique and Noah competed in their first Olympic Games and did so in equipment that will be included in LA2028.

Dominique finished 22nd and Noah made the medal race and finished 9th overall! With their experience and the Squad behind them, the USA has a great foundation to launch our iQ effort for 2028. In the crucial months leading up to the Games, America One Racing directly supported Stater, Lyons, and Barrows/Henken by coordinating and hiring key training partners:

1. 3x World Champion and 2020 Tokyo Games Gold medalist Kiran Badloe (NED) joined Noah in Marseille to test the new iQFOiL supplied equipment and help choose the final racing kit. His ability to push Noah paid off during the Games as Noah was one of the fastest sailors in the new Olympic Class. This pair will continue working together towards 2028.
2. 2020 Olympian (10th) Angel Granda (ESP) joined Dominique to continue improving her foiling skills.
3. 2016 Olympian (7th) Klaus Lange (ARG) crewed for Nevin Snow as sparring partners for Ian and Hans to select the Games racing sails and also contributed to develop a specific light wind set up and trimming techniques.
4. Evan Hefferman (USA) joined Daniela Moroz in the spring in Mexico for a training session focused on testing new foils.

The A1R house in Marseille created a peaceful space for knowledge transfer and relaxation as these athletes debriefed, receive physiotherapy and had meals after training sessions. America One Racing also paid for the “Marseille Playbook”, a tactical road map for the various weather scenarios in Marseilles. The playbook was provided to ALL Team USA athletes.

Important to winning anything is: planning and commitment.

America One Racing and its collaborators have been supporting USA sailing athletes for over 20 years with activities like Project Pipeline, weather and current studies, coaching by Quantum Racing, equipment support by Windmark Foundation, and a constant flow of financial support from St. Francis Sailing Foundation, the Sailing Foundation of New York, and thankfully, much more. The work gets done far ahead of time! A1R and its collaborators support of athletes for LA2028 has already started.

America One Racing would like to thank our collaborators for their contributions to this effort! It truly takes a village to provide the total support required to compete in the modern Olympics and International Competition.

IN THE MEANTIME:
While much of the focus this summer was on Paris-2024, America One Racing was engaged in many other important sailing activities that keep the pipeline full of potential:

June:
• Olympic Classes regatta San Diego. Eight “29ers”, which are the trainers for the 49er and FX, were in full flight. There was great support from SDYC, America’s most decorated female Olympic Sailor, JJ Fetter, as well as A1R and Quantum Racing coaches.

July:
• Eighty potential LA 2028 athletes raced in the Long Beach Olympic Classes regatta, hosted by Alamitos Bay Yacht Club. America One Racing ran its usual clinic five days prior to this important regatta. ILCA6 vice World Champion, Charlotte Rose was “in the house”, gaining valuable experience as she charts her path to LA2028. America One Racing and Quantum Racing coaches supported the event with a “fleet regatta coaching” plan with all 29er teams working together in morning briefings and after racing video and data analysis, another example of Squad mentality in action.
• iQFOiL – A1R conducted a U19 training camp in Kaneohe YC, Hawaii, and shortly thereafter, our athletes achieved USA’s best international performance to date – 17-year-old Makani Andrews (7th overall) and Garret January (2nd under 17 Division) at the 2024 European Championship in France.
• Makani then won a bronze medal for Team USA at the Youth Worlds. That’s a prime example of A1R athletes and coaches executing the plan!
• Waszp camp in Hawaii, more training at the Atlantic Coast Championship, followed by Waszp Games (World Championship) in Norway (150+ boats). We’re proud of the USA’s progress, with Gavin Ball 8th overall and Pearl Lattanzi 4th in the women’s division.
• Pre regatta coaching clinic for Sabot National Championship in San Diego-115 under-15-year-olds.

August:
• Wing Foil National Championship conducted by the St. Francis Yacht Club – A1R athlete JP Lattanzi finished 2nd overall behind professional kiteboard legend Johnny Heineken. Other A1R athletes, Fiona Wilde won the Women’s Division and Makani Andrews won the U19 division. All of this sort of training and execution is the “meat and potatoes” where A1R excels – creating the athlete base…. the launch pad…the pipeline. Without these critical elements, the United States won’t have the depth of talent necessary to dominate the podium

LOOKING AHEAD:
LA2028 is less than four years away. This is the Golden Opportunity, literally. It comes around once every 25 years or so.

It’s not just about the medals that we can win. It’s about harnessing the interest created by the magnet that is a home Games, to build: a structure, a system… a financing model, an endowment, a pipeline of both talent and resource, equipment, and harnessing the experience and support of successful people who are passionate about our sport.

It’s about gathering all that is required to put the USA back on top of the Sport for years to come. This is an opportunity to be leveraged with professionalism and competence.

America One Racing is honored to continue working alongside and in collaboration, with high performing, well managed stakeholders, such as American Magic, Quantum Racing, Oakcliff, Windmark Foundation, St. Francis Sailing Foundation, and Sailing Foundation of New York.

We also want to thank all our individual supporters, many of whom prefer to support in anonymity. We couldn’t do our job without your support – THANK YOU! For over a decade, this coalition has provided valuable resources, knowledge and experience to our USA athletes.

The LA2028 opportunity is here for the taking. It is here for the smart, hardworking and the competent. America was founded by courageous people who seized opportunity. Let’s strike gold in LA!