Five Sailors Head to Kiel Week

by Derby Anderson on 20 Jun 2008 Of the 5,000 sailors competing in the tremendous Kiel Week festival in Kiel, Germany, five Americans will travel to represent the US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics at the regatta taking place June 25-29.

Most of the U.S. Olympic Team sailors are winding down their racing schedules in favor of on-site training in China, but diehards Zach Railey (Clearwater, Fla.) and Anna Tunnicliffe (Plantation, Fla.) will sail in the Finn and Laser Radial classes respectively. Also racing in the Laser Radial class at this International Sailing Federation (ISAF) Grade 1 event is third-ranked US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics member Sarah Lihan (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.). Disabled team member John Ruf (Pewaukee, Wis.) heads to Kiel Week to race in the 34-boat 2.4mR class. In the Women’s RS:X, second-ranked windsurfer Farrah Hall (Annapolis, Md.) will also be racing in Kiel Week.

After a podium finish at the Princess Sofia Trophy in March, look to Zach Railey to keep moving up in the Finn rankings. Railey will race against 57 other Finns at Kiel Week, including two medalists from the 2004 Games and many more 2008 Olympic medal hopefuls. With 106 Laser Radials currently registered, Anna Tunnicliffe and Sarah Lihan will experience a quintessential Kiel Week, known as one of the largest sailing events in the world. The first day of Kiel Week will be exactly a month after Tunnicliffe won the 71-boat, Grade 1 Delta Lloyd regatta in Medemblik, Holland. Hopefully she can keep up her streak, but at this point Tunnicliffe and Railey are most likely more focused on the bigger picture of the Olympic Games.

Kiel Week should consist of three races per day for our US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics competitors, except for Finn sailor Railey, as that class only schedules two races per day. Medal races are scheduled on the final day for the top ten competitors in each class.

For Kiel Week information, please visit www.kieler-woche.de/eng/sailing/index.htm

About the US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics

The US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics recognizes the top three teams in all Olympic and Paralympic classes. The top athlete in each class is also a member of the U.S. Olympic Team for Sailing. The US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics is managed by US SAILING, national governing body of the sport. Headquartered in Portsmouth, Rhode Island, the organization provides leadership for the sport of sailing in the United States. US SAILING offers training and education programs for instructors and race officials, supports a wide range of sailing organizations and communities, issues offshore rating certificates, and provides administration and oversight of competitive sailing across the country, including National Championships and the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Sailing Teams. For more information, please visit www.ussailing.org.