I have been very fortunate to have a long and successful pro-racing career. Growing up and sailing in the San Francisco Bay area, one of the most beautiful and challenging bodies of water on our planet, insured that I had to earn my sailing stripes and as a result become very competitive. I have been involved in many International teams representing all classes, and at all levels of sailing from Friday night races in the Bay Area to involvement in 3 America’s Cup campaigns, as well as 1 Whitbread and 1 Volvo campaign, winning 6 World Championships, and competing in 8 Admiral’s Cups.

My life’s journey was seriously interrupted during the 2007 Valencia America’s Cup when I was diagnosed with Stage 4 Lung Cancer.  I have never smoked, so this was shocking news.  I was told to travel back to the States to get my affairs in order, as I only had a few more months to live. I could no longer walk, and was forced to accept the level of surgery in Spain that was being offered to me there. Afterwards, my sailing community rallied around me, and I was eventually transported back home to the USA, where I began an amazing relationship with John’s Hopkins and their Orthopedic Oncology team. I  had a will to fight and to live with new experimental drugs. I can proudly say that was 8 years ago.

My recovery took me out of my normal sailing arena, and it was 12 months before I could really walk the docks in the hope of racing again. I knew I would never be the 100% that I was before, but I still had the will and mindset to pick up the pieces and try to reboot my career. Luckily, I  re-launched my career and I went on to successfully compete and win the Mini Maxi World Championships of 2012.

Unfortunately in 2013 during the America’s Cup in San Francisco, my life took another radical turn. I was riding my bicycle to our shore base where I was employed by Emirates Team NZL as their Local Knowledge and Strategy Expert. I was hit by a car, 1/2 a mile away from the gates, on the 3rd to last day of racing. This accident caused me to endure yet another major spine surgery, and by 2014, I was declared disabled. I have never been much for excuses or for being held down. I just like to get on with it. After taking all of 2014 off to recover from that surgery, my desire was back to sail again.

Not knowing how much “normal” race work I could do, I approached my friend Grant Spanhake, the Tech Director of the USA Olympic team, to offer my help to the team with tactics and strategy. He told me that it was a good idea, but if I wanted to help the team  more, I needed to sail in the Paralympics. Grant, otherwise known as “Fuzz”, convinced me to look into it and so I did. I am proud to say that I was cleared medically in April 2015 to try out for the USA team. I recently flew myself over to Hyeres, France for the OCR regatta, April 15th. I not only cleared the International Medical Criteria by another point, but I successfully competed amongst the world’s leading Paralympic sailors in the 2.4m class. It was clear to me that I could compete at a higher level with more practice and time in the boat on the water.

Drawing from my experience of sailing and being a tactician over the last 40 years in International competition, I plan to use this skill set to build a winning program. I have 150 days scheduled to race against the best sailors in the world over the next 18 months. This program will include the purchase of 2 boats, test sails, rigs and various setups to make sure I am fast in all conditions. Racing against the worlds best in major international regattas. The US Olympic and Paralympic Committee have been overwhelmingly supportive in this endeavor. It would give me great pleasure to compete and to represent the USA for a possible shot at a medal.

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Annie Haeger:

My introduction to sailing began at the ripe age of 5, receiving an Optimist Dingy during the holiday season. Though my initial reaction to my “present” were tears and it was years before I jumped into an actual boat, sailing has been in my blood from the get go. I began my career at age 8 in the Opti, winning the Women’s National Championship, finishing 3rd in the open Championship and representing the United States at various European and South American events.  Highlights include winning the women’s division at the 700+ boat International Meeting at Lake Garda, Italy and winning the North American Championship in Trinidad and Tobago.

Post Optimist career, I qualified to represent the United States in the ISAF Youth Worlds twice in the Laser Radial, bringing home a Silver Medal in 2007. My laser stint was highlighted with a 3rd place finish at Youth Radial Europeans, 4th place finish at the 2007 Olympic trails, and back to back victories at the Leiter Cup.

Though I had previous success in the sport, college is where I learned how to become a champion. I received Women’s All American all four years, the only sailor to be nominated for the Quantum female College Sailor of the Year three times, winning in 2011, and was also was only the second woman in history to be awarded Co-ed All American status.  Tying Olympic Gold Medalist Anna Tunnicliffe with three Single-handed College National Championships, I also achieved success in the double-handed discipline winning B division my freshman year and finishing top four as a starter on the coed team racing team three times.  Senior year before launching into our full time Olympic campaign, Briana and I won the Women’s National Championship both skippering in A and B divisions. I am also honored to hold the record for the highest finish ever by a woman skipper at the Coed National Championship with a 4th place finish.In all, I helped lead BC to 2 Fowle Trophies for the best team in the Nation and culminated my Boston College career by being named the Eagle of the Year. This award is the highest honor of the athletic department, given annually to one male and one female senior student-athlete who are outstanding citizens, leaders, scholars and athletes.

Briana introduced me to the 470 my junior year in San Diego Bay over Thanksgiving break. Though we were able to train sporadically while in school, we knew once we graduated the Games were in our sights. Since going full time in September 2012, we have made many waves on the international 470 circuit.  We have one goal, and only one: to bring home the Gold Medal for the United States in 2016.

Briana Provancha:

Born and raised in San Diego, Briana was attracted to sailing by family and friends at age 8. Her love for sailing grew exponentially as a member of the Point Loma High School Sailing Team where she helped the team to four national championships. While in high school, she also qualified to represent the USA in three ISAF Youth World Championships (2005,2006,2007), securing the Silver medal in Busan, South Korea in 2005 and finally capturing the ISAF Youth World Title in Kingston, Canada in 2007. Briana attended Boston College where she led the Eagles to 2 Co-Ed National Titles, 1 Team Race National Title, 2 Women’s National Titles, and 2 Fowle Trophies. She is currently training full time as a crew for Annie Haeger in the Women’s 470 in hopes of representing the USA in the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The duo is currently top five in the World and have made waves on the international 470 circuit as a top threat in the fleet.

Annie Haeger:

Gold, Olympic Test Event, Rio de Janeiro, Brasil, 470 (August 2015)
Bronze, 470 European Championships, Aarhus, Denmark, 470 (July 2015)
2012 Boston College Female Eagle of the Year
1st, 2012 ICSA Women’s Doublehanded Nationals
2011 Quantum Female Sailor of the Year
Three-time ICSA Women’s Singlehanded National champion (’08, ’09, ’11)
Four-time ICSA All American
Silver, Laser Radial, 2007 ISAF Youth Worlds

Briana Provancha:

Held the ISAF World #1 Ranking 470W (June 2013 – September 2013)
Gold at the 2015 Olympic Test Event Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 470 W
Bronze at the 2015 470 European Championships
#1 Ranked on the US Sailing Team 470W  (2013, 2014, 2015, 2016)
Shortlisted for the 2015 Rolex Yachtswoman of the Year

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Marion Lepert is a rising junior at Stanford University taking a gap year to campaign for the 2016 Olympics. She learned to windsurf at the age of 8 in Foster City, CA and started racing in the SF formula windsurfing race series a few years later. She competed internationally in the youth Techno 293 class for three years before moving up to the Olympic RS:X fleet. She’s been on the US Sailing Team since 2013 and has been actively training and competing since.

2015 US Sailing Team Sperry Top-Sider, RS:X
2015 Pan American Games Bronze Medallist
2015 RS:X European Championships: 3rd U21, 21st Overall
2013 ISAF Youth Worlds: 4th

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