Ex-UH sailor bound for Olympics
Shandy Buckley, a former University of Hawai‘i Rainbow Wahine sailor, is heading for the Olympics.
Buckley and her Yngling team from New Zealand earned a berth in the 2008 Olympic Games in China after finishing sixth at last week’s ISAF World Championships in Portugal, states a UH press release.
According to the release, more than 1,300 sailors from 76 nations competed at the event, which is the principal qualification regatta for the Olympics.
Buckley and her teammates Sharon Ferris and Raynor Smeal finished sixth in the Yngling class, well inside the top 10 countries earning Olympic berths.
A Yngling is a three-person boat that received the ISAF international class status in 1979 and was chosen as the Olympic women’s keelboat for 2004 and 2008.
Buckley appeared in close to 30 regattas for Hawai‘i from 2003-06, including four appearances in the nationals. She earned all-conference honors in the spring of 2006 and competed last fall before leaving UH with a year of eligibility remaining.
She is not the first Hawai‘i sailor to compete on the Olympic stage. Former All-American John Myrdal competed in the Laser class for Team USA at the 2000 Sydney Games.