RILEY GIBBS — H
aving fully embraced a need for speed and Bill Lee's wellknown expression, "Fast is Fun," one of America's most competitive racers, Riley Gibbs, faces a world that has slowed to a virtual standstill. Yet, this Olympic hopeful and SaiGP Team USA sailor is remarkably capable of seeing opportunity and launching toward it with a vision aimed squarely at the podium. If you aren't familiar with this young man, he's an extraordinary Southern California sailor who has arguably raced his way into the sport's high echelons at the youthful age of 24. Gibbs got his start early on in life thanks to his enthusiastic parents, who took him out club racing on the family Etchells just two weeks after he was born — a testament to both his and his mother's fortitude. Before the starting gun was fired, they stowed him in the spinnaker bag, making sure he stayed out of harm's way. But it would be years, four to be precise, before he began taking the tiller under a coach's supervision. "My dad asked the Alamitos Bay Yacht Club's junior sailing director, Brad Schaupeter, who's now the coach for UCSB's sailing team, if I could start [the youth program] early," says Gibbs. "Since I had a boat, they let me join in." Having Schaupeter teaching him Riley, all geared up, appeared very much at ease aboard a Cal 20 with his family in Long Beach in 2001.
PHOTOS COURTESY RILEY GIBSS EXCEPT AS NOTED
Gibbs and Anna Weis after the medal ceremony at the 2019 Pan American Games in Lima, Peru, where they won gold medals.
about rounding the buoys and such was pretty impressive. It turned out that his early competitors would become future professional teammates. "I started racing Sabots, actually racing against Hans Henken, Peter Kinney and his cousin Chris Barnard — these guys were my idols growing up." It's remarkable to note that Henken, Kinney and Barnard are now Gibbs' teammates in the American SailGP program. Gibbs eventually won his first major regatta at the Junior Sabot Nationals in 2010. Gibbs' far-sighted vision of sailing was instilled in him at around this time as reading about the larger world of sailing took precedence over his other reading assignments. "I remember growing up and going through elementary school, and I'd be reading Seahorse magazine when I should have been reading Of Mice and Men or something like that," he says, laughing. "I think it's standard human nature — we're really drawn to acceleration," says Gibbs about his interest in sailing fast boats. "I really looked up to Hans growing up sailing Sabots. When he jumped to 29ers, I decided that was for me." It wasn't long before he was winning medals in that class as well, taking home the silver with helmsman Quinn Wilson at the 2014 ISAF Youth Worlds in Tavira, Portugal. Just two years later Gibbs and teammate Reeve Dunne competed
in the 5O5 North American Championship in Bellingham, WA, and took home the gold. Among those who chased their transom were Howie Hamlin and Mike Martin, among other esteemed 5O5 competitors. The victory must have been sweet, as Gibbs was the youthful prodigy of a 'brain trust' that included Howie Hamlin, Mike Martin, Adam Lowry, Charlie Ogletree and Pease and Jay Glaser, whom Gibbs competed against and with in the 5O5 fleet. "I owe a lot to them because they helped me develop my work ethic and the drive behind it. They've all been there and been through it all, so it's really good to have their experience and expertise." By the next year Gibbs had moved on from the venerable world of the 5O5s and onto the even-faster Nacra 17. He and teammate Louisa Chafee won the 2017 Oakcliff Triple Crown Series in Oyster Bay, NY. Gibbs and Chafee then took a fourth in the 2018 World Cup Series in Marseille, France. The following year, Gibbs teamed up with Anna Weis. They won first place in the Pan American Games in Lima, Peru, qualifying them for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan. It was a short 10 years between the time that Gibbs had won his first championship in the Sabots to last August when he and Anna won the right to represent Team USA in Tokyo. For Gibbs, it's been a longtime dream. "Right after Anna and I qualified, my brother Sawyer wrote an amazing post on Instagram that brought back memories I hadn't thought about in a long time. It really hit me. Thinking back to when we were kids, Sawyer and I shared a room with bunk beds, and at night before falling asleep he and I would always talk about the Olympics, and what we wanted to do when we were older, and what we wanted to sail, where we wanted to sail to. I have to say between Sawyer and me, we were thinking about the Olympics from a really early age."
