Strong start for U.S. athletes at Hempel World Cup Series Miami

Caleb Paine at the 2020 Hempel World Cup Series Miami © Pedro Martinez / Sailing Energy

The 2020 Hempel World Cup Series Miami is well under way. With two boats atop the leaderboard in their respective classes and several more in the top five, the US Sailing Team fared well on day one of the 2020 regatta season.

U.S. competitor, Caleb Paine (San Diego, Calif.), currently leads the Finn fleet after finishing both of today's races in first place. Despite having the element of the U.S. Olympic trials in play, Paine felt comfortable focusing on what he could control. "I just focused on my own stuff, just going out and sailing like I know how," he said.

Rather than worrying about the trials, Paine made sure to keep the small Finn fleet in mind today. He added, "One of my goals for today was to do some fleet management and minimize splitting away from the fleet to look for crazy leverage on the racecourse. Because the fleet is small, I wanted to stay in touch."

Also atop the leaderboard is Men's RS:X athlete Pedro Pascual (West Palm Beach, Fla.). Pascual finished the first two Men's RS:X races in first place. Like Paine, he focused on managing the small fleet to stay at the top. "It was fun racing, today," said Pascual. "The first two races, I focused on the start and had two really good ones, so after that, I just controlled the fleet."

The U.S. Women's 470 athletes have also officially qualified the United States for representation at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games by finishing the first race of the day. As the only North American team competing in the Women's 470 at this event, the U.S. has earned the North American berth and the U.S. has officially qualified in nine of the 10 Tokyo 2020 Olympic classes.

Olympic implications won't end today for U.S. Women's 470s, the three boats will continue with the second of three events that determine which pair will occupy that berth and represent team USA in Tokyo. After finishing today's races in fourth and ninth, Atlantic and Nora Brugman (Winthrop, Mass.) are currently the top Americans in the Women's 470 fleet, standing in fifth overall.

In addition to the athletes above, several U.S. competitors stand in the top five today. Stu McNay (Providence, R.I.) and Dave Hughes (Miami, Fla.) are fourth in the Men's 470. Likewise, Luke Muller (Fort Pierce, Fla.) and Erika Reineke (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) are fourth in the Finn and Laser Radial fleets, respectively. Finally, Farrah Hall (Annapolis, Md.) stands fifth in the Women's RS:X fleet.

Racing is scheduled to resume tomorrow at 11:00 a.m., local time (GMT -5).

For more information visit miami.ussailing.org.