Whether he’s sailing in a lightweight 49er dinghy at the Olympics or reaching extreme speeds in a formidable F50 catamaran in SailGP, Hans Henken enters each race with a body, mind, and soul that is attuned to the insane conditions that he must weather on the water.
Recently, the rugged athlete sat down on land with M&F to detail his preparations for becoming one of Team USA’s most prominent sailors, and we soon found out that there’s only one time that he allows himself to switch off from sailing.
Hans Henken was first introduced to sailing by his mom who was a recreational enthusiast but never competed. “Both my parents were hardworking and worked full time, and I have a brother and a sister, so it was also a sport in which she could drop us all off at the same time, and we could all do the exact same sport, no matter our age difference, and be able to pick us up at the end of the day,” explains Henken. “I think it was a double-edged thing. I think it was easy for my parents. And then, obviously, the affinity with water and the special connection that it had with my mom. I think that played a really big role in it as well.”
Later, Dad would encourage Hans to compete, and both he and his sister Paris have now reached the Olympic games. Incredibly, Paris actually competed with Hans’ wife, Helena (Scutt) at the 2016 Olympics, while Hans made his own Olympic debut by taking Bronze in 2024. Still, every champion has to start out by facing their fears. “I remember being deathly afraid of being eaten by a shark,” shares Henken of his first memory in the water at Dana Point, Southern California. “All I could think about was falling in the water or flipping over and getting eaten by some big shark. So, I was definitely afraid. I came in for that first session not really enjoying sailing very much because it was windy, it was wet, it was cold, but later on I really kind of grew to love the sport from a competitive point of view, and from the racing point of view. That’s where my love for the sport really took off.
Hans Henken Believes in Mind Over Matter
With the hull weight of a SailGP F50 vessel weighing upwards of 5,000 pounds (2,332 kilograms), Henken used his time at Stanford University to complete a Bachelor’s Degree and Master’s Degree in Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering. In fact, had he not been a successful sailor, Henken says his next choice was to be an astronaut. “So, a lot of what I studied in university was to understand the physics behind rockets, the physics behind airplanes, but it plays such a really big role in the sailing world as well,” he explains. “I mean a sailboat, in a lot of ways, has many similarities to an airplane in the way that the physics work with the wind over the sails… the same way that you can understand how breeze flows over an airplane wing to generate lift. There was a lot of crossover that I could apply to my sailboat racing and being able to apply that and get a competitive edge out of that has been a huge aspect of my ability to increase my learning curve and kind of get ahead of the rest of the group.
Hans Henken Build Strength and Agility With Pull Day Workouts
Theory is one thing, but being fit for the water is really something else. “Every type of sailboat is different, so you utilize the entire body, no matter what boat you’re sailing” explains Henken. “For sure on the F50 you feel like a rag doll at the end of the day because the boat’s going so incredibly fast.”
Indeed, F50 catamarans are among the fastest vessels with ever increasing top speeds of more than 55 knots, that’s 63 mph or 101 km/h. As a flight controller, Henken finds himself predominantly pulling. He aims for 5 gym sessions per week in addition to other activities such as boxing and training on the water. When the sailor can’t get aboard a boat he likes to surf or ski, keeping himself agile. This elite athletes’ gym routine is focussed on strength building to assist with those pulling motions that are so essential to his sport, and core stabilization is another crucial activity. “We don’t generally do Olympic lifting because of injury prevention,” he says. “But we do a little bit of deadlifting, and we do some front and back squatting just to keep our weight on and to help facilitate that muscle growth in the big primary muscle groups.” Henken shares that explosive power is key, so he works a lot with dumbbells, and strengthens his back with machines such as lat pulldowns. “We do a lot of pulling on machines, a lot of pulling on rope.”
Henken Uses Light Based Reaction Work to Be Precise
To hone his reaction times, Henken works a lot with tennis balls, but has also been training at the Red Bull facility in Santa Monica on light based reaction work. “We have the light fixtures that kind of blink on and off, and random patterns that you’re able to track and cross,” he says. “A lot of what we do in the boat requires really precise movement and really precise reaction times to different synapses and to different inputs. So, to be able to recognize something, move quickly to it, and to adjust to it is something that we’re trying to replicate as much as we can. We have a few different techniques and a few different systems that we set up to be able to facilitate that. Every day we’re trying to explore new options and get closer and closer to replicating the boat in real time.”
Switching Off from the Sea
Henken readily admits that being part of a sailing family means that they talk about little else, and he wouldn’t have it any other way, but the one time that he understands the need to switch off from the sea is following a race. “I think that’s the hardest part,” he admits. “I think there’s so much adrenaline pumping. There’s so many emotions that run high. You come back to, most likely, a hotel room and you know there’s a long shower, and then there’s a stretching routine. It’s when you’re off the clock that you have to turn your mind off and try to just let it settle. After having a good sleep and clearing your mind, you’re then able to kind of look at things with a new lens and be able to be more pragmatic with the decision making.”
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