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US SAILING Announces 2009 US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics

US SAILING, the national governing body for the sport, is proud to announce the new 2009 US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics (USSTAG). Fueled by elite sailing talent and leadership, the Olympic Sailing Program is building momentum towards the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Weymouth/Portland, England. The new team consists of rising sailing stars as well as many top sailors in the world, including 2008 Olympic Gold Medalist and US SAILING’s Rolex Yachtswoman of the Year Anna Tunnicliffe, 2008 Olympic Silver Medalist Zach Railey, 2008 Paralympic Gold Medalist Maureen McKinnon-Tucker, 2008 Paralympic Bronze Medalist John Ruf and 1988 Olympic Gold Medalist Allison Jolly.

Based on results at US SAILING’s 2009 Rolex Miami OCR, US SAILING selected the top three boats in each Olympic and Paralympic class for the 2009 USSTAG. Two boats declined to pursue Olympic/Paralympic campaigns, so the Star and SKUD-18 classes include the top two boats. The 10 Olympic classes chosen to compete at the 2012 Olympic Games are: Laser Radial (women), Laser (men), Finn (men), Men’s RS:X, Women’s RS:X, 49er (men), Men’s 470, Women’s 470, Star (men) and Elliott 6m (women). The three Paralympic classes chosen for the 2012 Paralympic Games are: 2.4mR (open), SKUD18 (mixed) and Sonar (open).

The members of the 2009 USSTAG are (listed in order of USSTAG ranking):

Olympic Classes

Laser (Men’s One Person Dinghy) : Brad Funk (Plantation, Fla.); Clay Johnson (Toms River, N.J.); Charlie Buckingham (Newport Beach, Calif.)

Laser Radial (Women’s One Person Dinghy) : Anna Tunnicliffe (Plantation, Fla.); Paige Railey (Clearwater, Fla.); Emily Billing (Clearwater, Fla.)

Finn (Heavyweight Dinghy) : Zach Railey (Clearwater, Fla.); Andrew Casey (Alameda, Calif.); Bryan Boyd (Annapolis, Md.)

Men’s RS:X (Men’s Windsurfer): Ben Barger (St. Petersburg. Fla.); Bob Willis (Chicago, Ill.); Jimi Sobeck (East Quogue, N.Y.)

Women’s RS:X (Women’s Windsurfer): Farrah Hall (Annapolis, Md.); Lisa Kremer (Worthington, Minn./Sioux City, Iowa); Solvig Sayre (Vineyard Haven, Mass.)

Men’s 470 (Men’s Two PersonDinghy): Stu McNay (Newton, Mass.) and Graham Biehl (San Diego, Calif.); Adam Roberts (San Diego, Calif.) and Nick Martin (San Diego, Calif.); Hans Jensen (Duxbury, Mass.)

Women’s 470 (Women's Two Person Dinghy): Erin Maxwell (Stonington, Conn.) and Isabelle Kinsolving (New York, NY); Molly Carapiet (Belvedere, Calif.) and Molly O’Bryan Vandemoer (Redwood City, Calif.); Alison Jolly (St.Petersburg. Fla.) and Darby Smith (Marblehead, Mass.)

49er (Skiff): Erik Storck (Huntington, N.Y.) and Trevor Moore (North Pomfret, Vt.); Joey Pasquali (Santa Cruz, Calif.) ; Jonny Goldsberry (Sausalito, Calif.) and Charlie Smythe (Austin, Texas)

Star (Men’s Keelboat): George Szabo (San Diego, Calif.) and Rick Peters (Barrington, R.I./Venice, Calif.); Andrew Campbell (San Diego, Calif.) and Brad Nichol (Miami Beach, Fla.)

Elliott 6m (Women’s Match Racing):Genny Tulloch (San Francisco, Calif.), Jen Morgan Glass (Seattle, Wash.) and Jamie Haines (Jamestown, R.I.); Debbie Capozzi (Bayport, N.Y.), Jackie Schmitz (Washington, D.C.) and Emily Hill (Miami, Fla./New Haven, Conn.); Katy Lovell (New Orleans, La.), Alice Manard (Charleston, S.C.) and Dana Riley (San Rafael, Calif.)

Paralympic Classes

2.4mR (Open One Person Keelboat): John Ruf (Pewaukee, Wis.); Mark LeBlanc (New Orleans, La.); Scott Danberg (Cooper City, Fla. and Stamford, Conn.)

SKUD-18 (Mixed Two Person Keelboat):Scott Whitman (Brick, NJ) and Julia Dorsett (Westchester, Pa. and Boca Raton, Fla.); Karen Mitchell (Deerfield Beach, Fla.) and Bob Jones (Issaquah, Wash.)

Sonar (Open Three Person Keelboat):Paul Callahan (Cape Coral, Fla. and Newport, R.I.), Roger Cleworth (Lithia, Fla.) and Tom Brown (Castine, Me.); Rick Doerr (Clifton, NJ), Maureen McKinnon-Tucker (Marblehead, Mass.) and Hugh Freund (South Freeport, Me.); Jen French (St. Petersburg, Fla.), Michael Hersey (Hyannis, Mass.) and Brad Kendell (Tampa, Fla.)

“We’re excited about the new team because we’ve never had this many Olympic and Paralympic sailors return this early in the quad, which is a sign we’re delivering more support to the sailors,” said Olympic Sailing Chairman Dean Brenner (Wallingford, Conn.). “We’re also excited to see a new generation of talented sailors dedicated to Olympic excellence.”

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