fort lauderdale yacht club laser sailing

At Long Last, An Olympian: Erika Reineke Will Sail The Laser Radial In Paris

by  Peggy Shinn

Erika Reineke ’s Instagram on February 25 said it all: “15 years a dream.”

The 30-year-old sailor had just qualified for her first U.S. Olympic Team—headed to Paris, or more precisely, Marseille, this summer—by winning the U.S. Olympic Team Trials in Miami in the ILCA6 boat class, a singlehanded dinghy known as the Laser Radial and raced by women at the Olympic Games.

“It still doesn’t feel real,” she said by Zoom from Barcelona, where she is training with the women’s America’s Cup.

Reineke has a bright easy smile. But neither the week-long Trials nor the years leading up to it have been, well, smooth sailing. It was her fourth time competing in a U.S. Olympic Trials and only her first time winning. Her story, like many, is one of hard work, perseverance, the value of a good coach, and with each Olympic quadrennial, knowing when to change tacks.

Youth World Champion #

From Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Reineke first started sailing at age 8. Neither of her parents sail, but they belong to the Lauderdale Yacht Club, which has a good youth sailing program. So they signed her up. Sailing in small Optimist boats, Reineke was terrified at first.

“I didn’t like the strong wind, and I thought the ocean was really scary, the breaking waves were really scary,” she said.

The power of peer pressure prevailed. She saw her friends out on the water too and realized that “you’re all in this together.” Over time, her fear dissipated. Besides, her parents would not let her quit until she had given it a fair shake.

From the Optimist, Reineke graduated to the Laser Radial and in 2010, when she was 16, she won a bronze medal at the International Sailing Federation’s Youth World Championships. Ten days later, she won the 2010 ILCA (Laser Radial) Youth World Championships.

So how did she go from a scared newbie to a world champion in just a few years?

Again, credit her friends. They were becoming seasoned sailors and Reineke was determined not to be left behind.

“I did some extra hours of private coaching, got fitter, and was asking more questions,” she explained. “That’s really what jump started it.”

A Taste of Olympic Qualifying #

Reineke was still in high school when the 2012 U.S. Olympic Trials rolled around. By that time, she was a three-time ILCA youth world champion, and at the 2012 worlds, she had finished eighth in the women’s field. She knew her chances of qualifying for the London Games were low. But she wanted trials experience and “to see what the Olympic stuff was all about.”

“I had showed prowess in youth sailing , but I hadn’t really had that much experience competing on the women’s stage,” said Reineke. “So that quad, I was just getting a feel for what something like this would be like.”

Collegiate Champion #

Reineke graduated from high school in 2012 and went to Boston College—as much for the school’s academics as its renowned sailing program. At BC, she won the women’s collegiate singlehanded national championships four times.

After junior year, she took the year off, with the goal of qualifying for the 2016 U.S. Olympic Team sailing in Rio. But the transition to Olympic sailing from the college format was a challenge. Boats are different and college races are short, with multiple races in one day. Olympic sailing involves longer (hour-long) races, with sailors competing two or three times each day. No surprise, Reineke missed qualifying.

She returned to BC, graduating in spring 2017 with a B.S. degree in environmental geosciences.

Too Much of a Good Thing #

With college degree in hand, Reineke could now focus full time on qualifying for an Olympic Games. She put her head down and set her sails for Tokyo in 2020.

While every Olympian works hard to make the team, there is a fine line. Without school to keep her life balanced and with the Covid-19 pandemic shutting down the world, Reineke overtrained both in the gym and on the water. She was sailing about 17 days per month (more than she does now).

“It made improving in the gym really hard and improving in sailing really hard,” she explained. “I was always hitting a plateau. Then once I recovered, I’d hit the plateau again.”

“I had put my head down and tried as hard as I could,” she added, “and it actually backfired.”

2024 Olympic Quad—Changing Tacks #

Reineke was heartbroken to not make the 2020 U.S. Olympic Team. She had given it everything—too much, in fact—and was not sure what to do next. She spent summer 2021 with her parents in Colorado, about as far from the ocean as one can get in North America.

When she returned to the water, it was in another Olympic boat class. She joined Lucy Wilmot—who had just graduated from Harvard—in a 49er FX, a two-person high-performance skiff.

Reineke calls it “a very pivotal moment” in her Olympic sailing career. Sharing the helm with a teammate in a different boat class gave her a new perspective on the sport. Over the course of three Olympic cycles, Reineke had slid into a mentality of “this is hard work.” Wilmot reminded her that sailing, and striving for an Olympic team, is exciting.

“Being with someone else and seeing how they operate and how they see achieving a gold medal, and also just her newness to the sport, was very refreshing,” said Reineke. “Sailing with [Lucy] was the best time of my life, and it really showed me how fun sailing was again.”

“It was crazy how much those two years in the 49er did and sailing with my partner did,” she added.

But Reineke’s strength is in the singlehanded Laser Radial, and in spring 2022, Erik Bower convinced Reineke to compete in the ILCA (Laser Radial) world championships that year (the championships had been moved from China to Texas, so it would be easier to reach). Bower had had Olympic aspirations of his own but after serving as a “bench warmer” for the 2016 Rio Games, became a coach.

With only four weeks of practice after two years out of the Laser Radial, Reineke placed tenth and was the top American.

After worlds, Bower convinced Reineke to adopt a new strength and conditioning program, which helped her put on 10 pounds of muscle and become an all-around competitor in all wind and water conditions.

He also helped Reineke with decision-making in the boat. Sailing is a sport of variables, and Bower has helped Reineke weigh her options in any given race, then pick courses of action depending on how the variables play out on the water.

“This allows her to be more focused and more unreactive to some of the noise that can occur in a race,” explained Bower. “It allows her to spend more time sailing her own boat as fast as possible.”

In the months leading up to the 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials, Reineke won gold at the 2023 Pan Am Games. Then she won the week-long trials event in February 2024 after a close battle with Charlotte Rose . After the final race, she hugged everyone, including her parents and sister who had come to Miami to watch, and Bower.

“He’s why I’m here,” said Reineke of Bower.

Paris 2024 #

Reineke competed in the 2024 Olympic test event last summer (finishing tenth in her first regatta after breaking her ankle in February 2023). Of the Marseille venue and sailing in the Mediterranean, she said it can have everything: big waves and really strong wind, or chop and also really strong wind, or light air or really shifty wind.”

“That's what makes like this Olympics the most exciting,” she said. “The real winner of the Olympics and the medalists will be the all-around the best sailors.”

As for her thoughts on making her first Olympic team, Reineke summed it up on Instagram:

“I’m 30 now and I started pursuing this path when I was 15—it’s been a long road. I’ve been tested every Games cycle, and to finally succeed feels amazing. There’s a lot of work to be done for Paris and I’m honored to represent the USA on the Olympic stage.”

• AMERICA'S CUP
• CLASSIFIEDS
• NEWSLETTERS
• SUBMIT NEWS

• Latest videos, from 2022

Lauderdale Yacht Club

Phone: 954-524-5500

Email: [email protected]

Address: 1725 S.E. 12th Street Ft. Lauderdale, Florida 33316

Website: http://www.LYC1938.org

The Lauderdale Yacht Club’s new clubhouse is located on a point facing a wide part of the Intracoastal Waterway in the beautiful Rio Vista neighborhood. We have a variety of indoor and outdoor dining options from causal to fine dining. Most dining areas and bars have views of the water, passing yachts and our youth sailing teams practicing their skills. LYC is a 5-Star Platinum Club with 3 dining areas, 3 indoor bars including a beautiful cocktail lounge, and a pavilion bar by the pool. We have a very large heated pool, tennis courts, fitness center, youth sailing center and 220 feet of guest dockage. Our staff is friendly and professional, and food and beverages are excellent. LYC welcomes members of Florida Council of Yacht Clubs. We look forward to seeing you soon.

Our Club Members

Bird Key Yacht Club

Bradenton Yacht Club

Captiva Island Yacht Club

Carlouel Beach & Yacht Club

Charlotte Harbor Yacht Club

Clearwater Yacht Club

Coral Reef Yacht Club

Coral Ridge Yacht Club

Davis Island Yacht Club

Eau Gallie Yacht Club

Florida Yacht Club

Fort Walton Yacht Club

Halifax River Yacht Club

Harbour Ridge Yacht & Country Club

Isles Yacht Club

Key Biscayne Yacht Club

Lake Beresford

Marathon Yacht Club

Marco Island Yacht Club

Naples Sailing & Yacht Club

Naples Yacht Club

Oyster Bay Yacht Club

Pelican Isle Yacht Club

Pensacola Yacht Club

Sarasota Yacht Club

Smyrna Yacht Club

St. Andrews Bay Yacht Club

St. Charles Yacht Club

St. Petersburg Yacht Club

Tampa Yacht & Country Club

Tarpon Springs Yacht Club

The Field Club

The Moorings Yacht & Country Club

Venice Yacht Club

Vero Beach Yacht Club

Home  News  2023 US Open Sailing Series Begins in Ft. Lauderdale and Miami

2023 US Open Sailing Series Begins in Ft. Lauderdale and Miami

Miami (January 13, 2023)  – Over 230 competitors from 22 countries will descend on South Florida this weekend for the Miami and Fort Lauderdale US Open Sailing Series. The ILCA 4, 6 and 7, and Nacra 15 will compete out of Lauderdale Yacht Club, while the Mixed 470, 29er, Formula Kite, 49er, 49erFX, and iQFOiL Men & Women will take to the water from the US Sailing Center in Coconut Grove.  

Several Olympians will be in attendance in Miami. Stuart McNay (Providence, R.I.), four-time Olympian, is back in the 470 with 2020 470 Olympian Lara Dallman-Weiss (Shoreview, Minn.). 2020 Nacra 17 and RS:X Olympians Anna Weis (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.) and Pedro Pascual will take to the water in the iQFOiL class, while 2016 49erFX Olympian Paris Henken (Coronado, Calif.) is teaming up with 2008 Gold Medalist in the ILCA 6 Anna Tunnicliffe-Tobias (Pittsburg, Penn.) in the 49erFX class.

The Women’s Formula Kite class will be one to watch, with the top two finishers at the 2022 World Championship – American Daniela Moroz (San Fransisco, Calf.) and French athlete Lauriane Nolot (Camps la Source, France) – set to compete in Miami.  This weekend the Formula Kite class tops both events for most nationalities and territories represented on the course with athletes representing 11 different flags.  

In the ILCA 6 fleet, local Ft. Lauderdale success story Erika Reineke (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) will continue her return to the ILCA 6 after pursuing a campaign in the 49erFX. Reineke got back in the boat last year for the ILCA 6 World Championship in Houston, where she finished 10th and as the top American. 

The top three finishers in all Olympic disciplines – Mixed 470, Formula Kite, 49er, 49erFX, iQFOiL Men & Women, ILCA 6 and ILCA 7 – will be eligible for cash prizes at both events. First place takes home $1,000 cash, second place $500, and third place $250. 

The series was established in 2019, building on the back of the popular Olympic Class Regatta (OCR) events as a domestic training platform for athletes racing in Olympic class boats. This year’s Florida series also serves as the beginning of a qualification and selection process for select classes for the 2023 Olympic Test Event in Marseille, France, the 2023 Allianz Sailing World Championships in The Hague, The Netherlands, and the 2023 Pan American Games in Santiago, Chile.    

Read more about the qualification and selection processes here .  

US Sailing would like to thank national sponsors Gill and New England Ropes for their support of this important national training program. US Sailing would also like to thank the organizing authority, host clubs, and volunteers that help the US Open Sailing Series run smoothy: Miami Yacht Club, Lauderdale Yacht Club, Coconut Grove Sailing Center, the USMMA Sailing Foundation , and Miami Kiteboarding school, and the countless volunteers.

The Miami and Fort Lauderdale events are the first of the series, which will continue on to Clearwater in February and to three West Coast locations starting in June.  

Copyright ©2018-2024 United States Sailing Association. All rights reserved. US Sailing is a 501(c)3 organization. Website designed & developed by Design Principles, Inc. -->

• COVID-19 Notice
• Miami Participation History
• Results & Standings
• Event Media
• US Open Sailing Series Results Archive
• World Cup / OCR Miami Results Archive
• Ft. Lauderdale
• Ft. Lauderdale Registration
• Ft. Lauderdale Notice Board
• 2023 Results
• Miami Registration
• Clearwater 2023 Event Rules
• Clearwater Registration
• San Francisco
• San Diego Registration
• San Diego Notice Board
• 2022 Results
• Long Beach Registration
• Long Beach Notice Board
• Notice Board for Kites and Boards
• Registration for Kites and Boards
• Notice Board for ILCAs, 470 and i420
• Registration for the ICLAs, 470 and i420

2022 West Marine US Open Sailing Series Kicks Off in Ft. Lauderdale

US Sailing and Lauderdale Yacht Club will welcome 133 competitors in the ILCA classes January 15 -17 for the first stop on the 2022 West Marine US Open Sailing Series. First sailed in 2021, the series was created to fill the demand for a high-level domestic training platform geared towards prospective Olympic hopefuls.   

The Lauderdale event features sailors from North America and the Caribbean, with six countries represented including the United States – the US Virgin Islands, Canada, Bermuda, Puerto Rico, and the Cayman Islands will bring their all this weekend.   

“We are so excited to have the ILCA class back at Lauderdale Yacht Club for the second West Marine US Open Series,” said Commodore Stephanie Toothaker. “LYC has hosted numerous Olympic class regattas in the past and look forward to making this another successful event.”  

Among the registrants are many top finishers from the 2021 Orange Bowl Youth Regatta, like Robby Meek of Annapolis, MD who finished first overall in the ILCA 6 class; and  Guthrie Braun, of St. Petersburg, FL, third in the ILCA 7 class.   

Top US Sailing Team and Olympic Development athletes will be competing in Fort Lauderdale. Charlotte Rose, a member of the ILCA 6 (Radial) squad and Leo Boucher of the ILCA 7 (Full) are competing in the event fresh off the Jr. Pan Am Games and the team’s first training camp of 2022.   

The Canadian Olympic team will also be represented this weekend by Tokyo 2020 Olympian Sarah Douglass, who is competing in the ILCA 6 class. Douglass placed sixth at the games in the Laser Radial.   

New this year, sailors from the United States competing in Olympic classes will be eligible for prize money over the three Florida and three California events. Athletes will vie for $1000 for first place, $500 for second and $250 for third.   

  Follow the Racing:    

• Regatta News & Coverage:  Visit the official West Marine US Open Sailing Series site for news, results & standings, photos & videos, and regatta information.   
• Social Media:  Follow  US Sailing and the US Sailing Team on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter  for news and highlights from the racecourse.   
• Join the Conversation:  Use hashtag –  #USOpenSailing  in your social media posts.   
• Entry List:  Click here to find out who is racing this week in the three ILCA events.   
• Racing Specifics:  The racing area shall be in the Atlantic Ocean approximately one mile north or south of the Port Everglades Channel Entrance. The first warning signal for racing each day is 1100 hours (11am ET).   

Each regatta will follow local guidance and ordinances regarding COVID protocols. Protocols are to be followed by competitors, race officials and event attendees. The health and safety of athletes, race officials and volunteers is US Sailing’s number one priority.  

— SPEAKER EVENT —

How Secure is Our Nation in a World of Unrest? An Evening with William Evanina

Thursday Evening, October 17 th , 2024

Click here for more info & to register.

— FUNDRAISER —

Hooters Friendraiser

Every Monday through 2024, ALL DAY (excluding 9/30)

17 S Ft. Lauderdale Beach Blvd Suite 304 Fort Lauderdale, FL 33316

Click here and present the flyer to have 20% of your tab benefit LYCSF.

Sail Bags are now for sale at the Lauderdale Yacht Club Gift Shop!

1725 12 th St. Fort Lauderdale, FL

Open 9:00 AM - 10:00 PM Tuesday – Sunday

Making a difference in the lives of young people through the sport of sailing.

Lyc sailing foundation receives grant from community foundation of broward to expand youth sailing in broward county, teaching our youth to become leaders & champions.

The Lauderdale Yacht Club Sailing Foundation is dedicated to favorably impacting the lives of young people, primarily between the ages of eight and eighteen using sailing as a vehicle to teach boating, weather, marine safety, sea conditions, maritime ‘rules of the road’, racing, tactics, first and, and improve spatial and mathematical skills. We feel strongly that sailing at this age builds character, self-reliance, independence, self-respect and leadership skills in addition to supporting the math and science areas of education. The Foundation also supports organizations in South Florida that provide sailing opportunities for disabled and disadvantaged youth.

Our Programs

Sailing scholarships for youth sailors.

LYCSF awards sailing scholarships for youth sailors learning to sail or striving to improve their skill level for fall, spring and summer training programs in South Florida.

Competition Grants for Sailors

LYCSF awards competition grants to sailors under the age of 18 who have qualified to compete in international and continental championship level regattas.

Community Sailing Program Grants

LYCSF awards funds to Community Sailing Programs in South Florida that teach children under 18 how to sail. The awards are approved on an ongoing basis.

Broward Schools Learn to Sail Essay Contest

LYCSF Learn to Sail Summer Scholarship Essay Contest is open to all current 5th grade students. If selected, the kids will select from available dates at LYC Sailing Summer Camp.

GOLD STAR SAILING CAMP IN FORT LAUDERDALE

LYCSF hosts and funds a one-week, all expenses paid, trip to Ft. Lauderdale where kids who have lost a parent in the line of duty learn the ins and outs of sailing while building strong relationships with others.

City of Fort Lauderdale Summer Sailing Camp

LYCSF supports the children of our community by working with the City of Ft. Lauderdale and other partners to provide summer beginner sailing camp.

Annual Dinner - Save the date

Thursday, may 9th, 2024.

An evening honoring our US Military to benefit the LYCSF.

LATEST ARTICLES

MOAA Member Teaches Gold Star Kids to Sail – MOAA

LYC Sailing Foundation Hosts Successful 4th Annual Evening Honoring the US Military

The Lauderdale Yacht Club Sailing Foundation (LYCSF) has a long-standing tradition of fostering competitive youth sailing. Today, the Lauderdale Yacht Club’s Sailing Program is one of the largest and most unique in the country offering teaching and training.

Quick Links

Mission & About Donate Today Contact Board Login

Financials & Tax

Tax Exempt Status Tax Exempt Search IRS Determination Letter LYCSF 990 & Tax Return

Get IN Touch

1725 SE 12th St. Fort Lauderdale, FL 33316

[email protected]

© 2024 Lauderdale Yacht Club Sailing Foundation. All Rights Reserved.