49erHans Henken

A California native, Hans began sailing at six-years-old in the Naples Sabot. He has competed at the highest levels of the sport since he was a junior sailor primarily racing 29ers, 49ers, the International Moth and most recently the supercharged, hydrofoiling F50 in the global SailGP Championship. In 2008, he introduced himself to the world stage when he won a bronze medal at the VOLVO ISAF Youth World Championships and topped that the following year when he became the U23 International Moth World Champion.

Hans has spent the majority of his career competing on the U.S. Sailing Team in the 49er class with his goal of competing at the Olympics. From 2011 to 2015, he was a member and captain of the Stanford University Sailing Team and in his senior year was named Stanford Conference Male Athlete of the Year during the Cardinal’s most successful season. While competing with the Cardinal, he earned a master’s and bachelor’s degree in Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering, an invaluable resource to complement his sailing pedigree.

Hans is currently campaigning for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, France alongside teammate Ian Barrows. The pairing is currently ranked 2nd in the world following their 2nd place finish at the 2022 Princesa Sofia World Sailing World Cup and solid performances on the world stage for the 2022 season.

Hans has also returned for season three of the global SailGP Championships for US SailGP Team as the starting flight controller, and continues to provide his sailing experience and engineering background on the supercharged F50.

Hans is an avid skier, and surfer and enjoys taking to the slopes, or the surf whenever he has free time. Also, Hans is literally a rocket scientist, and aspires to work on rocket engines when the time comes to move on from competitive sailing.