US SAILING Announces 470 Teams for 2011

US SAILING has annonced the members of the new 2011 US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics (USSTAG), the national sailing team comprised of Olympic and Paralympic hopefuls, with Stu Mcnay/Graham Biehl, Adam Roberts/Nicholas Martin to the 470 men and Amanda Clark with new crew Sarah Lihan and Erin Maxwell/Isabelle Kinsolving to the 470 women.

The 2011 USSTAG includes at least the top two boats in each class selected for the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Sailing Competitions in Weymouth, England.

These athletes have proven to be the top performing sailors in the world, and of the complete US Sailing Team, twelve are Olympians and two are Olympic medalists, five are Paralympians and three are Paralympic medalists, seven are World Champions and ten athletes are ranked top five in the world by ISAF.

Men's 470

Stu McNay	Graham Biehl	Adam Roberts	Nick Martin

2008 Olympians Stu McNay and Graham Biehl started the ISAF Sailing World Cup 2010-2011 season winning a silver medal at Sail Melbourne, in December, and finishing sixth at Rolex Miami OCR to secure their #2 world ISAF standing. Adam Roberts and Nick Martin, members of the 2010 USSDT, qualified for USSTAG with their 20th at Rolex Miami OCR.

Stuart Mcnay (Newton, Mass.) and Graham Biehl (San Diego, Calif.)
Team Website: www.teammb.org
Facebook page: TeamMB
Twitter: TeamMB

Adam Roberts (Miami, Fla.) and Nicholas Martin(San Diego, Calif.)
Team Website: www.teamrobertsmartin.com
Twitter:  Team Roberts Martin

Meet the team – Adam Roberts

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Women's 470

Erin Maxwell	Isabelle Kinsolving Farrar	Amanda Clark	Sarah Lihan

Women’s 470 veterans Erin Maxwell and Isabelle Kinsolving Farrar, a 2004 Olympian, are joined by the new team of 2008 Olympian Amanda Clark and Sarah Lihan. Lihan previously campaigned in the Laser Radial class as a member of the USSDT. She joined Clark after the 2011 Rolex Miami OCR when Clark’s former crew, Sarah Chin (Hoboken, N.J.), retired from Olympic competition.

Amanda Clark (Shelter Island, N.Y.) and Sarah Lihan (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.)
Team Website: www.teamgosail.org
Twitter: TeamGOSAIL

Commenting on the change to the 470, Sarah explained, “It’s been an incredible ride so far–if you ignore all the bruises, at least–and I’m looking forward to the next couple weeks of training before our first event, the World Cup event in Palma de Mallorca, Spain, which begins on April 2.”  More ..

Erin Maxwell (Stonington, Conn.) and Isabelle Kinsolving (New York, N.Y.)
Website: www.470TeamUSA.com

The 2011 team was selected based on top performances at a series of qualifying events, including January's US SAILING's 2011 Rolex Miami OCR, where USA won four medals.

Approximately half the team (in the Olympic events) qualified for the team prior to Rolex Miami OCR, based on their top performances at international events in 2010. In the classes where athletes had yet to qualify, Rolex Miami OCR was the final opportunity to make the team.

More Information:
Complete USA Sailing Team AlphaGraphics

Source: Dana Paxton
Image: Main image Erin Maxwell/Isabelle Kinsolving © Walter Cooper. All other photos © US Sailing