By Sail1Design’s Martha Pitt
Annie Haeger grew up in the Chicago suburb Lake Forest, sailing in high school there and sailing on Lake Beulah in Wisconsin in the summers. Her impressive resume reaches back into her opti and junior sailing days, where she did extensive training and competing around the country and the world that shaped the sailor that she has become today. Now a senior at Boston College, she has made the most of her last three and a half years, taking home more honors than most college sailors can even dream about, and is looking to finish her college career strong. Since her freshman year, Haeger has been named to the ICSA Women’s All-American team three times, most recently being named the Quantam Women’s Sailor of the Year this past spring. Her sophomore year she was also awarded Co-Ed All-American Honorable Mention Honors. During her time at BC, the Eagles have taken home eight national championships, and have won the Fowle Trophy twice (awarded to the team with the highest accumulative national championship performances for that academic year). While anyone on the Boston College team will tell you that any national championship is won because of the hard work put in by the entire team, three of those championships were won because of Haeger’s performances in the Singlehanded Championships.
Her most recent victory occurred a few weeks ago out in Chicago, IL on Haeger’s home waters of Lake Michigan. Though set back by one bad race on the first day of the three day event, Annie was able to come out clean on Day Two of the regatta and absolutely dominate the competition all day in a range of sailing conditions, finishing first in eight of the ten races that day and second in the other two. Sunday’s
racing was blown out after the first race, sailing in what many referred to as “survival conditions”, and Haeger completed her dominating performance with thirty-four points over Yale’s Claire Dennis with sixty-nine. At last year’s radial championship, Dennis beat Heager by one point for the title.
racing was blown out after the first race, sailing in what many referred to as “survival conditions”, and Haeger completed her dominating performance with thirty-four points over Yale’s Claire Dennis with sixty-nine. At last year’s radial championship, Dennis beat Heager by one point for the title.
I was able to talk to Annie Haeger about her most recent win in Chicago, and gain a little insight on what has made her so successful in the radial and in college sailing, as well as learn about what her thoughts are for her future sailing career beyond college sailing. She and fellow Eagle Briana Provancha have been juggling a 470 campaign on top of their college sailing career and academics, so they have been very busy over the past year in preparation. Haeger’s dedication to everything that she has done in sailing and beyond has been a double-edged sword at times, stretching her thin over many responsibilities, but the success that she has found because of it is second to none in her time. Congratulations to Annie Haeger and the Eagles on another national championship, and we can be sure that we will be seeing plenty more of the Haeger name at the top of the results in the coming months and years.
What type of training did you do to prepare for this championship?
Greg [Wilkinson, BC Head Coach] and I kind of formulated a plan last year after my loss to Claire Dennis. We looked at the loss objectively and pin pointed that one of the issues was time in the boat. I sailed with my kids that I was coaching this summer and also sailed two regattas. We also planned out how many days of the week in the fall I was going to dedicate to lasers. Lots of time in the gym later I was ready!
You dominated the competition throughout this year’s ICSA Women’s Singlehanded Nationals, in a range of conditions – what was working for you that allowed you to be so consistent and successful?
I think that Savin Hill (BC’s practice venue) helps a lot! We always have a variety of conditions there. From chop to flat water, and blowing 0-40; it’s all there.
How was sailing in Chicago? Do you think that you had a “home court advantage,” or was it like sailing at any other college venue?
I have sailed out of Belmont Harbor a lot so, that might have attributed to the win. It is definitely not like any other college sailing venue! The reverb from the waves against the wall was for sure a difficult condition. I had to take sea sick pills the first two days.
You are clearly on your own on the water in Laser sailing. Do you see this championship as a personal win, or a championship for the Eagles?
It’s a team win. Callie Naughton (sophomore) has improved so much from last year and really pushed me on the water leading up to nationals. Like we always say, it’s an “Eagle’s Sunday”!
This is the third time you have won the ICSA Women’s Singlehanded Nationals, missing last year’s championship by only one point, so you have clearly proven yourself in the Laser Radial on the college circuit. Is Laser sailing something that you have thought about continuing after this year, or does your future lie with the 470?
I think for right now I am still committed to 470 sailing. Briana Provancha and I have gotten so far in the boat and really think that we may have a chance for 2016. If I was about 4 inches taller I think the radial would be the boat for me!
Obviously the BC Eagles have been and are an important part of your sailing career, and with them you have found a great deal of success. What is the rest of your Eagles
career looking
like as you enter your final season this spring?
career looking
like as you enter your final season this spring?
This coming season we are looking forward to continue to improve from our fall performance. We ended the season getting some of our most talented alumni back to get us on the right track. We are going to keep pushing each other in practice and hopefully will end with all of our goals!
Team Haeger/Provancha – how has it been juggling the Olympic campaign with school and college sailing?
I would be lying if I said it was easy. Last year, it was hard for me to concentrate on everything that was going on. I had too many time commitments and it was very hard to balance all my time.
What does the future look like for Team Haeger/Provancha? Are you planning to focus on the campaign full time once you graduate in the spring?
Well first Briana and I need some money! I think both of us are trying to get a job for at least my first year out of school. We are planning on going full time later in the quad though, as we get closer to the 2016 games.
What other kinds of sailing have you been doing recently (besides college and 470)? What kind of impact does this other sailing have on your college and 470 sailing, if any?
I did my first keelboat, and match race regattas this year! They were an absolute blast. I sailed the match race regatta with skipper Stephanie Roble, Maggie Shea, Tyler Woodworth, and Nick Dugdale, and sailed the keelboat event with Roble, Shea and Darby Smith [who are currently doing a Women’s Match Race campaign together]. I think that these regattas, though competitive, showed me again why I love the sport so much. I learned a lot from all of them and hope to sail on more keelboats in the future.
Looking back on your sailing career, would you have done anything differently?
It’s always nice to look at things in retrospect. The one thing I might have done differently would be my time commitments last year. I was focused on doing well in school, doing well in college sailing, as well as 470s. When I do things I like to give them 100% and I felt as though I had too many things on my plate. I think next time, maybe focusing on my most immediate goal would get me the results that I want.
What kind of advice would you give any younger women’s skippers who are looking to be as successful as you have been in the past four years? What would you tell them is the biggest key to your success?
I think that one of the biggest keys would be determination. I have really pushed myself everyday at practice as I’ve grown older and have had fun with it while I am young! I think that’s my biggest advice is figure out what you love about the sport and always remind yourself of that even when you are down.
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