Strong minds and performances deliver results for U.S. in Miami at Hempel World Cup Series

Erika Reineke at the 2020 Hempel World Cup Series Miami © Pedro Martinez / Sailing Energy

Sailors at the 2020 Hempel World Cup Series Miami were again greeted with a full day of racing on day two of the event. With the breeze from the northeast at 13-15 knots, the athletes experienced some shifty conditions on Biscayne Bay.

Following suit after yesterday's strong start, several U.S. athletes shone in the breezier conditions today. In the Men's RS:X class, Pedro Pascual (West Palm Beach, Fla.) extended his lead to remain in first with six points between him and the second-place boat. Pascual's fellow American competitor Geronimo Nores (Miami Beach, Fla.) saw a significant improvement over yesterday's results. After winning the last two races of the day, Nores will move up to sixth.

In the Women's RS:X fleet, Farrah Hall (Annapolis, Md.) also jumped up a couple of positions. Hall finished two of today's races in third and one in first to move into a podium position. She currently stands third overall and will don the red bib tomorrow.

On today's success and how she's feeling at this event, Hall mentioned that her mindset is key on the racecourse. "I'm mostly working on a little bit of technique and a lot of psychology," she said. "Sailing is a very complex sport, so for me, I'm pretty regimented in my daily routines. I'm focusing on keeping all of that straight but being flexible at the same time. This has been a good event for me psychologically, so I'm pretty happy where I'm at."

Like Hall, Women's 470 athletes Carmen and Emma Cowles (Larchmont, N.Y.) are sure to take the right mental approach to their racing. The pair finished today's races in fifth and eighth to stand in eighth place and as top Americans. With Olympic trials at stake this week, the pair doesn't let the pressure distract them from their tried and true process.

"The goal isn't necessarily to qualify, but just to get better as a country," said Carmen speaking of the priorities among U.S. Women's 470s. Emma continued, "We've all learned a lot in these past few years. All three boats are pretty new, none of us have decades of experience in the 470 like some of the other athletes do."

With the big picture in mind, Carmen adds that their approach is one step at a time, "I think we take each event one by one, and step by step. That approach worked for us in the 420, so we're just trying to keep the ball rolling with what we know works."

As the wind built, reaching the low 20s in the late afternoon, more U.S. sailors took the opportunity to climb the leaderboard. Erika Reineke (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) climbed the Laser Radial ranks to stand first overall and Luke Muller (Fort Pierce, Fla.) did the same to land second in the Finn class. Several U.S. athletes will be donning the colored bibs tomorrow as Caleb Paine (San Diego, Calif.) remains the leader in the Finn fleet.

U.S. leaders in the two remain fleets are US Sailing Team Men's 470 athletes Stu McNay (Providence, R.I.) and Dave Hughes (Miami, Fla.), who are ninth overall, and Nick Sessions (San Francisco, Calif.) is currently ranked 14th overall among the Lasers.

Tomorrow, Racing continues at 11:00 a.m., local time (GMT-5).

For more information visit miami.ussailing.org.