Who wouldn’t want to be 17, care free and on top of the world? Erika Reineke the freshly-minted Laser Radial US World Champion might have raised some eyebrows by announcing after winning Bronze at the Youth Worlds in Turkey two weeks ago, that she came to Scotland to get Gold. But in a true champion’s fashion she backed her words with results and stood on the uppermost step of the podium when all scores were tallied. Expect to hear more from this young lady, who claims two famous US Laser sailors as role models and in a delicious twist, is trained by the husband of one of her idols. “It feels amazing because I’ve never won a world championship. I think it’s a good start. I won the bronze at the ISAF Worlds, I finished second at the Youth Europeans in Copenhagen. I started sailing in Optimists from Lauderdale YC. Actually, I was hoping to win in Turkey but got the bronze so I came here all fired up to win. I knew I had to fight even harder to do well because I really wanted the gold.”
“When I return home I’ll take a couple of weeks off but then I’ll start training again with an aim of doing the US Olympic trials. Paige Railey is an amazing sailor and I aspire to be like her, and Anna Tunnicliffe of course, so I hope to give them both a good trials. My ultimate aim is to race the Olympics.
“I have a great coach back home – Brad Funk [Ed note: Anna Tunnicliffe’s husband] – he has been working and training with me and he has really brought me a long way. As far as day-to-day training goes, I go to the gym three or four times a week, Saturdays and Sundays I sail Lasers, and Wednesdays after school. Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays I sail for High School. So, basically I sail every day except Friday when I’m usually traveling to regattas.”