##Day one at the Red Bull Youth America’s Cup. Photo by Gilles Martin-Raget/ACEA
ing on the smaller SL 33 catamaran on the Bay…” Team USA45 skipper, Charlie Buckingham (Georgetown ‘11), came from a recent Olympic Laser campaign and an undeniably successful college sailing career. He says, “The America’s Cup and the Olympics are the pinnacles of our sport, so the RBYAC is an amazing opportunity for all of us... It’s been challenging. Every day I go out in the catamaran I learn something new about highperformance sailing, and I’m really enjoying it.” As a St. Mary’s College alumnus, I know for my fellow Seahawks, race one was one that we will remember. Coming off the starting line, our former teammates and their team, AYSF, crushed the start, going into the first mark in the lead. Helmsman Menninger had great speed at the start, carrying them through the gun and propelling the AYSF forward to go on to win the first race. While there were a few too many nervous moments during the race, the team kept it together and remained calm through a number of mishaps, most memorably when the team almost capsized rounding the first mark as a result of getting a bit caught up in the extensive amount of scope on the mark. Watching the race from the media center with a few other former Seahawks, we listened in as Menninger calmly told his team after the first mark to hang in there. This voice of reason is so familiar in racing, and in my mind is crucial to a team’s success, as it provides the team
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