June 2, 2005

BREST, France - Navy intercollegiate sailing coach Gavin O'Hare led Team USA to a World Military Sailing Championship last week off the coast of France, claiming the first gold medal for Armed Forces Sports this year.

The championships featured 20 of the top military sailing teams from around the world, and the United States' team was composed of four Naval Academy graduates. Keith Davids (Class of '90) was the skipper, Nick Cromwell (Class of '96) and R.D. Burley (Class of '96) were the crew and Charlie Pucciariello (Class of '89) was on the foredeck. O'Hare is a 1992 Naval Academy graduate.

The championship was sailed in J-80 keelboats from the French Naval Academy in Brest, France. The championship consisted of 11 races in conditions ranging from very light with lots of current, to winds above 20 knots.

"It is an honor to be chosen as the coach of this team. It was like a Navy sailing "Dream Team"," said O'Hare. "We took bronze last year in Spain and focused this year on improvement. We put in a great performance and are very thrilled to come away in the top spot."

USA won the title with 22 points, six points ahead of second-place Germany's 28. France was third with 31 points.

"As I put the team together, I tried to recruit for the specific boat and sailing conditions," added O'Hare. "The final team was composed of four guys who had the 'right stuff'. They had the right size, championship experience and tenacity to strive for the gold. This team had a steep learning curve but was solidly in control of the regatta by the last race.

"It really says something about this team as the talent level was deep as many of the team were composed of military who had previous olympic experience," said O'Hare.

# GO NAVY #