Paris Henken isn’t your average laidback 20-year-old from Coronado, CA. In February 2016, Paris and her sailing partner, Helena Scutt, qualified for the 2016 Olympic Games in the 49erFX. Though having spent the majority of her childhood at Coronado Yacht Club, Paris is now a Junior SDYC Member and a past SDYC Summer Program Instructor, having won SDYC Outstanding Female Sailor of the Year in 2012 and 2013. Paris has also won the 2011 US Youth Championship in the 29er, the 2010 North Americans in the 29erXX, and she was a bronze medalist in the 2015 Pan American Games. I was honored to have the chance to sit down with Paris and talk more about her sailing background and preparations for Rio.
SDYC: I’ve heard that you’re quite the athlete and that you grew up surfing and skiing in addition to sailing. How has participating in other sports helped your success as a sailor?
Paris: I get this question a lot because people are curious to see how kids develop through different sports. The biggest thing is competitiveness. Participating in other sports gives you more of a competitive drive instead of experiencing the same monotonous thing over and over.
SDYC: You have an older brother and a twin brother. How have they helped you get to the point where you are today? Was there a lot of competition and rivalry in your household growing up?
Paris: My parents did a great job of making sure we each had our own interests. They didn’t want to make things complicated between me and my siblings. There wasn’t a specific rivalry, but there was a natural competition which I think is normal in any household. I think it would have been different growing up with sisters. Having brothers pushed me out of my comfort zone because I always wanted to keep up with them.
SDYC: What has been one of the toughest challenges in qualifying for the Olympics?
Paris: Qualifying on behalf of North America was the hardest part. There were so many competitive countries and not every country can attend. We were up against all other North American 49erFX teams, which were Aruba and Virgin Islands. Canada had qualified in a previous event in 2015. It was a lot of pressure because we knew it was our last chance. But, USA had a good chance of getting the spot since we had 3 boats competing for USA.
SDYC: Now that you are a Rio de Janeiro 2016 competitor, what will be your focus for the last few weeks of training before your first race?
Paris: Since we first qualified in February, we have spent 2 1/2 weeks in Rio each month. I actually just got back from our June training camp yesterday. I leave for our last 2 1/2 weeks on July 2nd. The May and June training camps were focused on learning the venue and learning currents and winds. This next training camp in July will be focused on Olympic gear- sorting through what we have and seeing what is the best. We have a practice boat and a racing boat so we are going to start rigging our racing boat to make sure we are the most prepared we can be.
SDYC: What is Team Henken/Scutt’s strategy to being successful in the Olympic Games? How does having a coach factor into that success?
Paris: Helena and I like to focus on the process and how we got to where we are- how all the small details fit into the big picture. Our coach, Willie McBride, likes to focus on confidence. He’s always working to build our confidence and everything we do and make sure that we have confidence in ourselves and in each other.
SDYC: Who will be your toughest competition?
Paris: This is the first time the 49erFX is in the Olympic Games so the outcome will be tough to predict. Each World Championship that we’ve had so far has had surprising results- teams that were expected to do well didn’t and those who weren’t expected to do well did. One of the strongest competitors will be Brazil since they are so familiar with the venue and they have won a lot of major competitions. Spain won the last World Championships. Italy, New Zealand and Sweden are other countries that have been performing well recently.
SDYC: How important would winning a medal be for you personally?
Paris: Winning a medal would mean the world to me. I’m still so young and accomplishing something like that would be huge. It would also be a medal for everyone who has helped me and Helena along the way- coaches, parents, friends, etc. We made a lot of sacrifices along the way and I think we proved ourselves in qualifying for the games. But to win a medal in addition to qualifying would be surreal.
SDYC: What is one of your fondest memories of representing SDYC while participating in the junior racing program?
Paris: One of the greatest doors that SDYC opened for me was meeting Aine Fretwell. She’s one of my favorite people in the world and I’m so happy to have met her. My fondest memories from SDYC include sailing with her. I remember one snipe regatta that we sailed together when I was in high school in particular.
SDYC: How has SDYC helped prepare you for your current sailing achievements?
Paris: I started at Coronado Yacht Club and then switched to San Diego Yacht Club when I got older. I love the atmosphere at SDYC and seeing how many kids are involved since sailing is a very hard sport to learn. In general, San Diego is just a great place to grow up sailing and there’s more people from San Diego on the Olympic Sailing Team now than ever before.
SDYC: What advice would you give aspiring female junior sailors to help them achieve greatness in the world of competitive sailing?
Paris: My biggest piece of advice would be to remember that “nobody is holding you back.” I learned this when I started sailing 29ers when I was 12 years old. Everyone told me that I was too small for that boat, but I just decided not to listen to anyone when they said it was going to be too difficult for me. I think I proved a lot of people wrong by believing in myself when nobody else would.
SDYC: How has school factored into your training and race selection decisions?
Paris: I completed my first semester of my freshman year at College of Charleston and had about six months of college sailing under my belt before making the decision to take an interlude from school to focus on the Olympics. What’s great about Charleston is that the team is huge so every day we have 10+ boats on the water. It’s a lot of good practice- short courses but a big fleet. Charleston is also notorious for having a lot of current which is similar to Rio. That six months at CofC definitely helped prepare me for dealing with the current in Rio.
SDYC: Once your Olympic experience is complete, what will be your next goal or future challenge in the sport of sailing?
Paris: After Rio, my main sailing goals include focusing on college sailing to hopefully win a title for CofC. I also want to win Women’s Nationals during one of my four years. Regarding Olympic sailing, Helena and I haven’t talked about any future plans, but I would like to do another campaign, if possible.
My personal goal is to get back to school and finish college. I’m actually missing the first day of school because of the Olympics. I go straight from Rio to Charleston and right into classes. I’m debating going into medicine eventually, but right now my major is undeclared. I plan to spend the next few years figuring out what I want to do.
SDYC: What other kinds of boats do you sail? What is your favorite and why?
Paris: I have not recently sailed anything other than the 49erFX. I guess I would say that’s my favorite just because I spend so much time in it. It’s challenging to sail something else during a campaign because your main focus is the boat that you’re sailing in the games. That being said, cross-training in another boat is a good idea and I wish I did more of it. If I did do another Olympic campaign, I would lean towards staying in a 49erFX just because I know it so well at this point. But I am open to other boats!
SDYC: Do you have any favorite sailing venues or locations to train or race?
Paris: My favorite location to practice in is Lake Garda in Italy. I’ve only sailed it once in a 29er, but I can tell you that it’s my favorite place to sail. It’s not the best location for racing because the same thing happens every race- you know you have to go one direction and the direction is set in stone. But practicing there was amazing due to the beautiful scenery.
My favorite racing venue is probably Santander, Spain. We had our 2014 World Championships there and it was a really tricky venue because of the waves. The city of Santander in the background, the locals, and the food made it a great experience and worth the challenging waves!