U.S. Sailors measure against world's best on 2020 Olympic Waters at Hempel World Cup Series Enoshima

by US Sailing Team 26 Aug 2019 16:20 BST 25 August - 1 September 2019

On Tuesday, August 27, racing at the 2020 Hempel World Cup Series Enoshima will begin. Over 490 of the world's best sailors, representing 46 countries will begin racing at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 venue in Enoshima, Japan.

The U.S. will have 19 entries, with athletes representing the country in all fleets, except the Women's RS:X.

2020 Hempel World Cup Series Enoshima - U.S. Competitors

• Stu McNay (Providence, R.I.) and Dave Hughes (Miami, Fla.) - Men's 470
• Trevor Davis (Annapolis, Md.) and Trevor Bornarth (Martin County, Fla.) - Men's 470
• Judge Ryan (San Diego, Calif.) and Hans Henken (Coronado, Calif.) - 49er
• Andrew Mollerus (Larchmont, N.Y.) and Ian MacDiarmid (Delray Beach, Fla.) - 49er
• Luke Muller (Fort Pierce, Fla.) - Finn
• Caleb Paine (San Diego, Calif.) - Finn
• Chris Barnard (Newport Beach, Calif.) - Laser
• Charlie Buckingham (Newport Beach, Calif.) - Laser
• Pedro Pascual (West Palm Beach, Fla.) - Men's RS:X
• Atlantic Brugman (Winthrop, Mass.) and Nora Brugman (Winthrop, Mass.) - Women's 470
• Nikole Barnes (Miami, Fla.) and Lara Dallman-Weiss (Shoreview, Minn.) - Women's 470
• Carmen Cowles (Larchmont, N.Y.) and Emma Cowles (Larchmont, N.Y.) - Women's 470
• Rachel Bryer (Jamestown, R.I.) and Laura Slovensky (Brookhaven, N.Y.) - Women's 470
• Stephanie Roble (East Troy, Wisc.) and Maggie Shea (Wilmette, Ill.) - 49erFX
• Paris Henken (Coronado, Calif.) and Anna Tunnicliffe-Tobias (Pittsburgh, Penn.) - 49erFX
• Erika Reineke (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) - Laser Radial
• Sarah Newberry (Miami, Fla.) and David Liebenberg (Livermore, Calif.) - Nacra 17
• Ravi Parent (Sarasota, Fla.) and Charlotte Mack (Miami, Fla.) - Nacra 17
• Riley Gibbs (Long Beach, Calif.) and Anna Weis (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) - Nacra 17

This event comes on the heels of the Ready Steady Tokyo - Sailing Olympic Test Event that concluded on the 22nd. Five US Sailing Team athletes will have the momentum of a recent top-ten finish at that event on their side. Stu McNay (Providence, R.I.) and Dave Hughes (Miami, Fla.) placed fourth in the Men's 470 fleet, Erika Reineke (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) finished eighth in the Laser Radial fleet, and 49erFX athletes Stephanie Roble (East Troy, Wisc.) and Maggie Shea (Wilmette, Ill.) finished tenth overall.

In addition to the athletes that represented the U.S. at the recent Test Event, several American sailors arrived early to Japan to log some extra practice at the venue. Nacra 17 athlete, Ravi Parent (Sarasota, Fla.), is among the many athletes who chose to take advantage of the extra training time in Japan. "We chose to train through the Test Event in order to learn from the racing, gain familiarity with the venue and conditions, and acclimate to the heat and humidity," said Parent. "Our U.S. Nacra boats were able to connect with some other countries to train during Test Event racing. We're looking forward to reconnecting with the full international fleet."

Parent is racing with fellow U.S. campaigner, Charlotte Mack (Miami, Fla.) this week. While this will be Mack's first regatta in the Nacra, she is no stranger to Olympic class boats. She can usually be found on the racecourse in a 49erFX. This week, she is replacing Caroline Atwood (Killingsworth, Conn.) who usually crews for Parent, but is currently recovering from an injury.

During their time in Japan, Mack and Parent have been working hard to get comfortable in the boat and at the Olympic venue. Mack acknowledged that while the Nacra has a steep learning curve, she is grateful to carry her high-performance racing experience in the FX, "The FX is also a high-performance boat, so there's a decent amount that I can bring from that class into the Nacras, but everything obviously happens a lot faster in this boat."

For most of the athletes, this will be the last event before a long break between regattas. "Our next big event after this week is the Hempel World Cup Series Miami, in January. Until then, it's preseason training, so we're looking forward to continuing to train in a racing setting," said U.S. Women's 470 skipper Atlantic Brugman (Winthrop, Mass.). "We're also really excited to get another opportunity to sail at the Olympic venue to learn more and get more practice in racing scenarios here."

Racing will start at 12:00 local time on Tuesday, August 27. The 49er, 49erFX, Nacra 17 and RS:X fleets will conclude racing on Saturday, August 31 with their Medal Races at 12:00 local time. The 470s, Laser, Laser Radial and Finn fleets will follow on Sunday, September 1 at 12:00 local time.