{"id":77949,"date":"2024-06-04T10:03:29","date_gmt":"2024-06-04T14:03:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/?p=77949"},"modified":"2024-06-04T10:03:32","modified_gmt":"2024-06-04T14:03:32","slug":"skiff-brothers-to-the-games","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/racing\/skiff-brothers-to-the-games\/","title":{"rendered":"Skiff Brothers To the Games"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\"Skipper <\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n
\n Skipper Ian Barrows and crew Hans Henken excel in challenging conditions in Miami during the US Sailing Team\u2019s 49er selection Trials.<\/span>\n Lexi Pline\/ US Sailing Team<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\t <\/figcaption>\n <\/section>\n\t\t\n\n\n

The top-three teams in the standings had traded places in the top 10 on the world stage for three years. They had trained together and qualified the US for the Games this past summer in the Netherlands. And all three pairs had swallowed the bitter pill of missing country qualification in the 49er for the Tokyo Olympics. Now, having been nearly tied on points for a week, they had only one goal\u2014to beat one another.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By this point in the regatta, Ian Barrows and Hans Henken, \u00adteammates since summer 2020, had virtually secured the berth. But on the sail out to the racecourse, they followed their usual routine of hoisting the spinnaker and testing how far they could put the pedal down while running downwind in a big breeze, a difficult point of sail in the for 49er no matter how talented the crew.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe were 100 percent comfortable on starboard, no problem,\u201d Henken recalls of their assessment that morning. \u201cWhen we jibed to port, I had to flog the kite three times in a row. I told Ian, \u2018Somebody is going to capsize today.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They knew right then that, tactically, port jibe would not be ideal to attack or try to outmaneuver another boat. It was a subtle observation, a slightly different shape of the murky blue-green chop heading in one direction. Their boathandling was flawless all week, and with a 2-2-3 score line on the last day, they won the 21-race trials by only 3 points.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

Twenty-plus knots is the limit of 49er sailing. And they were right up against it on the final day of the US Olympic Team 49er selection \u00adtrials on Miami\u2019s Biscayne Bay, with eight teams and only a handful of races remaining to decide who would be racing next summer in Marseille, France, the Olympic venue.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s expert-level; it\u2019s strategic how hard to push,\u201d says Charlie McKee, their regatta coach and a multiple Olympic medalist who, with his brother Jonathan, earned a bronze medal at the 2000 Olympics, the year the 49er was introduced to the Games. \u201cIt\u2019s not a fear of capsizing. The fact that Hans does the risk\/reward that easily in his head, that says something about him. They can be analytical, but they also have so much confidence in each other. It\u2019s not false like, \u2018I got this.\u2019 It\u2019s from all the systematic training they have done with their squad coach, Mark Asquith.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What transpired during that tedious series in Miami was the culmination of nearly a decade of dedication by three teams collectively aspiring to reach their peak abilities and one day make it to the Olympics. The photos on land after the final races in Miami revealed a depleted group of sailors, friends and competitors who represent the first true medal hopes for the US in the 49er since the early 2000s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\"Hans <\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n
\n Hans Henken suffered serious injuries during a SailGP event in 2023 that almost ended his Olympic campaign, but Henken\u2019s \u00adcommitment to recovery enabled him to sail the 49er trials.<\/span>\n Allison Chenard, Lexi Pline\/US Sailing Team<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\t <\/figcaption>\n <\/section>\n\t\t\n\n\n

This squad, which shuffled partners after Tokyo, produced Barrows and Henken. And despite Henken\u2019s near-career-ending injury months before the trials, the pair, winners of the 2023 Pan American Games, are now poised to achieve the seemingly impossible task of medaling at their first Olympic appearance. Citing a host of unique attributes and experiences, McKee and others say that they are ready.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Selecting sailors for the games<\/strong> varies by country. The United States once favored domestic selection trials, pitting sailors against each other to produce the best representative. This approach resulted in one of the most successful Olympic sailing programs of all time, but as domestic Olympic fleets shrank, the value of international competition grew. By the 2000s, to win a medal at the Games, it wasn\u2019t good enough to be the best in the US anymore. The proving grounds were overseas. With only a handful of US medals won over the past few quads, however, a domestic trials format was reinstated for five classes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 2023 49er World Championship in the Netherlands saw Barrows and Henken and teammates Andrew Mollerus and Ian MacDiarmid finish in the top 10 (ninth and fifth respectively), which earned the US a 49er berth. All that remained was a one-regatta showdown between these two teams, and other favorites, Nevin Snow and Mac Agnese, to fill that berth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This battle was a long time coming, particularly for Henken, who had raced in the domestic trials in the 49er class in 2007, and Barrows, who watched his brother Thomas win selection for the Rio Games. \u201cHans was a kid, got a boat, and sailed in his first trials,\u201d McKee says. \u201cIt\u2019s no coincidence that he got Olympic fever.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Failing to qualify the US for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics was a massive blow to the American 49er program\u2014and to the sailors themselves\u2014but after a few crew switches, much of the squad was back to training within a few months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI made it clear to Ian a year before the 2021 World Championship [in Oman] that I wanted to be a contender in that fleet,\u201d Henken says. If the pair had a mediocre finish, he would have called it quits. \u201cThis was a turning point, and we came away finishing fourth. This was the green light to say, \u2018We have what it takes.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Barrows, from the US Virgin Islands, is predictably laid-back, a counterpoint to Henken\u2019s fastidiousness. Henken is an engineer who would be designing rocket engines if he hadn\u2019t committed to Olympic campaigning. He lives by the numbers. \u201cWe\u2019ve logged every day together in an Excel spreadsheet,\u201d he says. Since June 2020, they\u2019ve sailed 1,300 days together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re still a young team,\u201d Henken says. \u201cA podium finish in Palma 2022 gave us confidence that we are players.\u201d Finishing top 10 in two of the last three world championships, he adds, boosted their confidence going into the trials. \u201cWe knew that we were capable of winning; also, we beat the other two US teams at the last three small events.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A defining moment of their campaign leading<\/strong> up <\/strong>to the trials was neither the epiphany at the Oman worlds nor their podium finishes. It was the frightening moment when Henken was injured in the cockpit of a foiling SailGP F50 in Taranto, Italy, this past September. What could have easily ended his career and his Olympic destiny turned out to be a test that Henken and Barrows saw as an opportunity to grow as a team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Henken says that he was unconscious for five minutes and severely concussed, his sternum was broken in half, and four ribs were broken. The prospect of competing in the Pan American Games in October, which is perfect preparation for the Olympics, as well as the January trials were off the table.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen I woke up in the hospital, I wasn\u2019t sure I could walk,\u201d Henken says. A patient recovery followed. \u201cThat\u2019s kind of who I am. Any big goal, I plan to make step-wise goals. As unfortunate as it was. It fell into my wheelhouse. I told myself, It\u2019s going to happen<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Henken drew on his own determination and the experience of his wife, Helena Scutt, who recovered from a traumatic accident to compete in the 2016 Rio Games in the 49erFX, alongside Henken\u2019s sister, Paris.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHealing from my accident was a long process mentally in terms of PTSD,\u201d Scutt says. \u201cJust because someone looks fine, they can be a long way from feeling fine. It\u2019s important for teammates, coaches and friends to recognize. I\u2019ll be looking out for Hans.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For 49er crews, there\u2019s a constant balancing act between training on the water and time in the gym, and when the decision was made to try to sail the Pan Am games, Barrows and Henken knew that their training efforts would be quite compromised.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHans likes to have everything perfectly in place. The boat, his body. The good part of this situation was that it took Hans out of his comfort zone,\u201d McKee says. \u201cBut if there\u2019s ever a partner to have who wouldn\u2019t be phased, it\u2019s Ian. Hans knew that Ian was fine with everything. It\u2019s a hugely positive character trait. That\u2019s not going to knock him off his game. He can perform well in \u00adless-than-ideal circumstances.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHonestly, Hans is a pretty freak athlete,\u201d Barrows says. He had to steer more gingerly through maneuvers during the Pan Am games to allow Hans to find his footwork. They estimate that Henken was at 60 percent ability at the Pan Am games and 80 percent by the trials. \u201cAt the Games, he was a little beat up, but at the trials, I didn\u2019t notice anything.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re both incredibly hard workers,\u201d Henken adds. \u201cWe\u2019re always uncovering that \u2018next thing.\u2019 And when things don\u2019t go our way, we say, \u2018OK, this is part of the plan,\u2019 and we start working for the next solution.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe were next to the boat that we had to beat the<\/strong> entire time,\u201d Barrows says about his trials experience. \u201cThe adrenaline was always pumping.\u201d They had the confidence of their Pan Am win and Henken\u2019s remarkable recovery to push them through the marathon regatta. \u201cWe had no dip in focus,\u201d Henken says. \u201cThe whole event, we stayed positive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During training blocks, Asquith would run the 49er squad around a weather mark \u201ctip to tail,\u201d with each team taking their turn at the back of the lineup. They\u2019d race a course, dozens of times, keeping track of scores. The average placing for the winner was always a 2. \u201cBecause of this, at the trials, we used this idea that when you\u2019re behind, don\u2019t panic,\u201d Henken says. \u201cNot having that panic, ever, and this idea that this was going to work played a big role in our win.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

McKee says that the reason they never lost faith is because \u201cthey knew the trials was going to be that way. They fully expected it, and were mentally prepared for it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Going into the last day of the trials, Barrows and Henken had a slight lead, with three races remaining. \u201cThey knew the scenario where they could clinch the regatta in the second race of the day, if things went their way,\u201d McKee says.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\"Squad <\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n
\n Several years of \u201csquad\u201d training with other US 49er teams mirrored the small-fleet experience of the trials, where every point can be critical.<\/span>\n Allison Chenard, Lexi Pline\/US Sailing Team<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\t <\/figcaption>\n <\/section>\n\t\t\n\n\n

The pair knew that the right side of the racecourse was favored; they were in third place as they sailed up the second beat and needed a second to secure the regatta win with one race to spare. With the second place doing a bear-away set, Barrows and Henken  did a perfect jibe set. They nailed the layline for the finish, got the second they needed, and their ticket was in hand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey had been sailing contained and controlled,\u201d McKee says. \u201cBut because the analytics justified the maneuver, and they matched Ian\u2019s tactical instincts and Hans trusted him, it worked. It never entered their minds that they could flip in a jibe set.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

True to the lessons learned from Asquith\u2019s repetitive drill, the \u00adwinning team had a pile of second-place finishes in their score line: 10 of 21 races, to be precise. \u201cIt was such a marathon of a regatta,\u201d Barrows says. \u201cOn the way in, Hans started to do his normal boat check. And I said: \u2018What are you doing? We\u2019re done!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The final score had Barrows and Henken 3 points ahead of Mollerus and MacDiarmid, with Snow and Agnes a mere point behind. The differences were tiny over the course of such a grueling series. \u201cThey are very good at boathandling,\u201d McKee says. \u201cIan has these skills where he knows what the boat can do. There were no boathandling mistakes. It\u2019s amazing, after 21 races, 84 legs.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because this will be the first Olympic appearance for Barrows and Henken, the statistics for medal success are not in their favor, but the Games are famous for producing miracles. \u201cWhen you go to your first Olympics, even if you\u2019re good, you don\u2019t usually do well,\u201d McKee says. \u201cThe second time is usually when you win a medal.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, he sees something different in Barrows and Henken. \u201cSome people cope [with the Olympic experience] by saying, \u2018It\u2019s just another regatta.\u2019 We as coaches don\u2019t think that\u2019s realistic,\u201d he says. \u201cThere\u2019s no way to pretend. Ian and Hans are in a position to face that. They\u2019re not going to be mentally taken out by that. That\u2019s just not who they are.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The pair are fortunate to have two significant experiences simulating the Olympic experience: They sailed in the 2022 Olympic Test Event in Marseille and won the Pan Am games in Chile, which certainly count for something. \u201cI knew that [Pan Am games] experience was going to pay dividends,\u201d Barrows says about the regatta. \u201cWe took a lot of notes about what we can control and what we can\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As they now settle into a new rhythm in sync with the Olympic countdown, Barrows says that understanding each other\u2019s needs is most important, as is recognizing when to relax and knowing when they\u2019ve done enough. The trials are over. The berth is theirs. They earned it. And while it was mentally and physically draining, they are now brimming with determination.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ian Barrows and Hans Henken emerged from a grueling Olympic selection trials, the final hurdle to this summer’s big regatta.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":77955,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"BS_author_type":"BS_author_is_guest","BS_guest_author_name":"Chris Museler","BS_guest_author_url":"","hydra_display_date":"","hydra_display_updated":false,"_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":"","_yoast_wpseo_metadesc":"","_yoast_wpseo_title":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","arc_story_id":"","arc_website_url":"","custom_permalink":"","arc_subtype":"","arc_exclude_from_feeds":false,"sponsored":false,"sponsored_label":"Sponsored Content","sponsored_display_label":false,"sponsored_image":false,"post_right_rail":true,"post_right_rail_ad_1":true,"post_right_rail_ad_2":true,"post_right_rail_ad_3":false,"post_right_rail_ad_4":false,"post_right_rail_recirc":true,"fixed_anchor_ad":true,"post_top_ad":true,"post_off_ramp":true,"post_taboola":false,"labels":true,"apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":"","ad_settings_ads_on_this_page":true,"ad_settings_automatic_ad_injection_into_the_content":true,"ad_targeting":"","alternate_title_newsletter":"","alternate_content_newsletter":"","sponsored_url":"","social_share":true},"categories":[159],"tags":[186,185,2937,177,178],"class_list":["post-77949","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-racing","tag-olympic-sailing","tag-olympics","tag-print-march-2024","tag-racing","tag-sailboat-racing"],"acf":[],"apple_news_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77949","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=77949"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77949\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/77955"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77949"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77949"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77949"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}