Hal Herman Haenel has earned both a gold and a silver medal racing in the International Star Class in the Olympic Games as crew for Mark Reynolds.  In 1988, in a very windy Olympic Games off Pusan, South Korea, Haenel and Reynolds finished 8-4-1-5-4-4-RET (Retired) to earn a silver medal just 2.3 points behind Great Britain. At the time, Hal Haenel was just 22 years old.  Determined to improve on their performance, the two sailors set a goal to return to the Olympics four years later.  In Barcelona’s 1992 games, they succeeded with impressive finishes of 2-1-3-1-3-11-DNC series.  The US crew did not have to sail the final race and won the gold medal 27 points ahead of silver medalists Rod Davis and Donald Cowie from New Zealand.  Three years later, Reynolds and Haenel won the International Star Class World Championship in Laredo, Spain.  They also placed second in the Star Worlds in 1988 and 1996.  In 2013 at the age of 46, Haenel crewed for Reynolds and the pair finished third in the World Championship in San Diego, California.

Haenel has raced with some of the best sailors of the era, including National Sailing Hall of Fame Inductees Paul Cayard, Augie Diaz and Ding Schoonmaker.  He also served as a Board Member of US Sailing from 1999 to 2006. Following his time racing the Star, he was named the US Sailing Team leader for the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Australia.  As a warmup to the Olympics, Hal was the team leader of the US Sailing Team for the Pan Am Games that were held in Winnipeg, Canada. The USA won six medals in ten classes that summer.  The American squad did well that year, winning silver medals in both the men’s and women’s 470 classes, a gold medal in the Star (Reynolds sailed with Magnus Liljedahl) and a bronze medal in the new 49er Skiff Class.  Reynolds notes Hal’s nickname around his children is “Uncle Hal.”

Around the waterfront, fellow sailors respectfully call him “Hollywood Hal” for his professional career at a company that works on major motion picture films.  Haenel graduated from Columbia College in Chicago with a degree in film studies.  In the early days of his career, he was an operations manager for television programs that included the game show Jeopardy.  Eventually, he became President of Studio Operations for 20th Century Fox.  While racing in the 1996 Olympic Games in Savannah, Georgia,  Hal met his future wife, Amy, who was a volunteer at the sailing venue.  After retiring from the movie production business, they moved from Los Angeles to Savannah.

Hal Haenel and Mark Reynolds raced Stars for fifteen years.  When Haenel retired from racing and became the US Sailing Team manager, Magnus Liljedahl took his place as Reynold’s crew and went on to become Olympic champions in the Sydney Olympic Games in 2000.  Haenel was the team’s manager, and could rightfully add another feather to his cap.  Hal made a successful transition from being a competitor to a manager: “I had a good perspective from my racing to what is needed by the sailors.  You want to provide the basics like good weather information and provide any logistical help that is needed.”

~ Gary Jobson