Hans Henken returns to the Team USA catamaran 14 months after being injured in an accident

SAN DIEGO — Hans Henken’s sailing career is back in full swing less than 14 months after he was knocked unconscious and seriously injured when the high-speed catamaran he was piloting during a SailGP race crashed into the foils and plunged nose-first into the waves of the Mediterranean Sea.

The Olympic medalist returns as an air controller for the United States SailGP Team, which announced its roster for the world league’s fifth season on Monday. The opening regatta will take place on Saturday and Sunday in Dubai.

Henken has come full circle. On September 23, 2023, he suffered two broken ribs, a broken sternum, a torn rotator cuff and a concussion when he misjudged the ride height of Team USA’s 50-meter catamaran while maneuvering around the mark during the Taranto regatta. Italy.

Injuries did not exclude him from the game for long. About 3.5 weeks later, Henken, a Stanford-educated rocket scientist, and captain Ian Barrows won the gold medal in the 49er class at the Pan Am Games.

The duo then won a bronze medal at the Paris Olympics, marking a breakthrough for the once-dominant sailing team that had won just one medal in total at the previous three Summer Games.

Now he’s back at SailGP, which he says “has some of the best sailors in the world, the coolest boats and the fastest boats,” known as F50s and capable of reaching highway speeds.

“It’s no secret that I want to be around these boats,” Henken, 32, said in a recent telephone interview. “They are also an engineering marvel. And since I studied aeronautical engineering at Stanford University, every aspect of the boat is really cool – sailing it, the engineering behind it, and the culture surrounding it. It’s just an amazing, amazing league.”

Team USA was sold to a new ownership group two months after Henken’s injury. The Americans want to rebound from eighth place in a fleet of 10 boats, which was 11 in the first regatta and will increase to 12 during the second regatta.

Henken was injured when the American F50 dived and sank its leeward hull into Mediterranean waves at about 40 miles per hour, became airborne and came to rest. Henken, the flight controller, said he misjudged the boat’s altitude during the maneuver after rounding the mark.

Then-captain Jimmy Spithill did not immediately notice Henken and radioed a call for the man overboard. Seconds later, the crew found Henken unconscious and severely injured by the force of the water, which knocked him into the back of the cockpit. Spithill called for a medical boat, which took Henken to shore and to the hospital.

“These boats require a lot of precision in all movements and in all areas,” Henken said. “If one thing is not completely in order, many things can quickly go wrong. It’s part of the sport. It’s an extreme sport and I think it shows that everyone is giving it their all, and that’s just part of racing these boats.

He was determined to continue his Olympic campaign and overcame the pain with physiotherapy sessions.

He said he wasn’t physically ready for the Pan Am Games, “but mentally I wanted to be there, I wanted to campaign. It wasn’t part of our trials system, but the type of racing was going to be very important in preparation for the U.S. Olympic trials in Miami in January.”

Henken holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in aerospace engineering.

“When I was 5 years old, my big dream was to become an astronaut. My next big dream was to go to the Olympics and win a medal. So I did one of those things,” he said.

He was interviewed by SpaceX, but then he got a call from Barrow asking him to start campaigning for the Olympics, so he withdrew his application.

Working as an aerospace engineer is still a goal, “but while I have the ability and the skills to sail these boats, I take every opportunity to sail some really cool flying boats. I’m not going to turn that down,” he said.

Henken said returning to the F50 during the training camp in Bermuda “was like finding an old friend.”

Team USA CEO and co-owner Mike Buckley was on the boat on the first day, “he gave a little fist bump and said, ‘Have a nice day,’ and that was it. You know, I think all athletes are kind of programmed to get up and try again.

The American catamaran now sports a Liberty Marine color scheme in honor of the Statue of Liberty. There is an image of a statue’s head on the sail of the wing.