January 28, 2019
Tomorrow we start day one of racing at the Hempel Miami Sailing World Cup. We start racing at 2pm with three races scheduled.
Today, however, was a rest day. Neither of us did much in relation to the sailing, and it was very pleasant. The last few days have been full of boat work and sailing and preparations for racing. We owe a big thank you to our coach Willie and my Dad, Paul, for helping us out with the boat work and getting things done at a much faster pace. Having four sets of hands is much better than two. We also can’t forget about the two pups, Bella and Ebba, whom Paris takes a very keen liking too.
This evening, was the opening ceremony hosted at Coral Reef YC. It was quite a chilly evening, but was well attended by the sailors and coaches from around the world. I know we can’t complain about the chilly temperatures based on what up north is getting or about to get, but for Miami, today and this evening were not warm. We are all hoping it warms up just a little for the beginning of tomorrow’s racing.
This regatta is quite important for many reasons, but we have our goals as a team, and are going to do the best we can and check off the goals as we go. The Miami World Cup is the first qualifier of two for the Pre-Olympic Event in August at the Olympic Venue and also the Pan-Am Games held later this summer in Peru. Our second qualifying event is in Palma in March/April. The combined overall results from each of these will determine who qualifies for those two events. Even though they are quite important, we are not focusing on that portion of the event. We are still using this regatta as an opportunity to gain experience and practice and to keep implementing all that we have worked on over the past few months. We know we will have some great races and we will have some that aren’t so great, but it’s all part of the path, and our goal is to learn from each and every moment out there.
You can follow along with the racing here (https://miami.ussailing.org). The link to the results is also posted under the schedule page.
Thank you for your continued support!
Anna and Paris
Henken | Tobias Sailing 