Daniela Moroz Takes Fourth Place in Olympic Kite Sailing Final
The Medal Round for the Women’s Kite may have been a disappointment to Daniela Moroz, but she didn’t disappoint us, as she finished fourth, just short of a bronze medal. In the final race Moroz was partially done in by copping a penalty, later dismissed, rounding the penultimate mark as Great Britain’s Ellie Aldridge foiled away to capture the gold. France’s Lauriane Nolot took silver, and Annelous Lammerts the bronze.
The entire Bay Area yachting community can share a great deal of pride and appreciation for Lafayette’s favorite daughter as Moroz fought to the very end, just as she has from the moment she exploded onto the kite-foiling scene over a decade ago at age 11!
“It hurts a lot, and it will for a while,” Moroz posted. “This sport is both beautiful and ruthless, and as athletes we chase the highs but risk the lows that are part of the journey.”
“I’ve said plenty of times before that I practice conscious gratitude for those highs and lows, and this is now my ultimate challenge.”
Moroz started her day in the semifinals, where she needed one race win to advance to the finals. In a neck-and-neck race, Moroz was narrowly beat by Switzerland’s Elena Lengwiler but was fouled at the last windward mark by Lengwiler. Moroz swiftly won her protest and advanced to the finals.
“Everything I do and have been doing over the last several years is to give myself a shot at a medal,” Moroz said.
The second week of racing has been littered with fickle breezes that left most of the fleets wallowing around waiting for the winds to kick in, and as the finals got underway, the breeze again faltered.
“We’ve had so few races in this regatta because of the light wind, which has rarely happened in my time in this sport. It was frustrating to only get one race in (during the opening series), but that’s how it goes sometimes,” Moroz said. “With only a handful of scores on the board, consistent low scores have been crucial to be able to advance. While I’m not in the exact position I was hoping for at this stage, I’m going to go out and do what I know how to do: win races.”
Moroz entered the first race with a potential advantageous position of hoisting the largest kite in her quiver, but it appeared she didn’t quite get off the line as she may have wanted. Aldridge won that first race, which prevented Nolot from taking first, thereby setting up another race.
At the start of the second and final race Lammerts took a lead on the first leg which she never relinquished, in spite of relentless pressure from the six-time world champion.
“I respect the process of this competition and want to extend my sincere congratulations to Ellie, Lauriene, and Annelous, who have shown me friendship on and off the water in this epic lead-up to get here together,” Moroz said.
“I feel completely overwhelmed that I almost don’t feel anything, because I can’t believe what happened,” said Great Britain’s Aldridge, who went with a smaller kite for the final. “My goal was to win a medal and I knew that if I had the right week I could win.”
Over the past few seasons Aldridge has been one of the most consistent athletes to reach the podium. But she has always finished second best at the World Championships, first to Moroz and more recently to Nolot, who has won the past two world titles.
“I know I had the best team out there with me, on shore, and back home, and this result does not take away from how proud I am of the program we put together to represent the Stars and Stripes on the water this week,” said Moroz. “Go, Team USA, forever and always!”
In other sailing news, the Bay Area’s David Liebenberg from Richmond and Florida’s Sarah Newberry Moore concluded their first Olympics in 16th overall, in the Mixed Multihull Nacra 17.
“It was nice to end on a high note with a third place on our last day,” Newberry Moore said. “We put a couple more puzzle pieces together and experienced the potential we know we have.”
“We started sailing together at the beginning of 2018 so it’s been a long journey,” Liebenberg added. “And it wouldn’t be possible without the countless individuals and organizations who supported our goal of being here at the Olympics. To represent the USA at the highest level of sailing in a challenging and rewarding boat we both love is something we’re so proud of.”
As we reported last week in ‘Lectronic, one of Team USA’s Olympic Sailing high points was Hans Henken and Ian Barrows’ hard-earned bronze on the 49er. Now it’s on to Los Angeles in 2028. We can’t wait!!
Caption Contest(!)
Welcome to the August Caption Contest(!). We hope this never happens to any of our boats. But to be honest, a few of the boats we see tied at the docks could well be heading in this direction.
See July’s winners in this month’s Loose Lips.
Get Your Own Catamaran Now with Dream Yacht
Dream Yacht has immediate availability for a beautiful BALI 4.6 catamaran to join the popular Dream Performance ownership program in select destinations in the Caribbean. Yacht ownership programs like Dream Performance can help you offset the cost of your yacht and take the hassle out of owning a boat.
Dream Performance at a glance:
– Rental income paid quarterly
– Possible Tax Advantages
– Extensive, flexible use of your yacht
– Comprehensive management with all-inclusive maintenance and services
With more destinations than any other charter company and 7 world famous yacht brands to choose from, Dream Yacht offers you more choice than anyone else. Contact Dream Yacht Sales & Ownership for more details regarding the BALI 4.6 or to learn more about other programs and yachts available.
We Now Join Randall Reeves and Harmon Shragge, Voyage Already in Progress
Amidst a flurry of high-profile sailing — the Pacific Cup, Olympic sailing and SailGP — Randall Reeves, Harmon Shragge and the 41-ft aluminum cutter Mōli are quietly easing their way across the top of the world on a multi-leg west-to-east circumnavigation of the Americas, with San Francisco Bay as the start and finish line. Between ocean racing, light-wind dinghy courses in the South of France and a foiling grand prix, the Around the Americas voyage (aka Harmon and Randall’s Voyage) is a low-key, high-miles circumnavigating adventure featuring two Bay Area sailors.
We now join Harmon and Randall at latitude 74 north, the top of the Yukon and (we think) a bit east of Point Barrow/Utiagvic, Alaska: the northernmost town in the United States.
Last summer, Randall and Harmon sailed from San Francisco to Homer, Alaska, where they stowed Mōli for the season. Randall made trips to the boat over the winter to prepare for an attempt at the Northwest Passage, which they began in late June.
Harmon and Randall have been motoring, seeing bears, eating lots of fish, fixing lots of things on Mōli, hiking, visiting tiny, wildly expensive frontier towns, and blogging. For those of you who followed Randall Reeves on his epic Figure 8 Voyage(s) starting in 2017, you know that he’s a wonderful writer. (Harmon Shragge is no slouch on the keyboard, either.)
“No matter the time allotted for preparation, more is wanted,” Randall wrote on July 1. “I had driven to Homer in late February for a month of boat work, to repair the propeller shaft assembly, to replace the engine’s water pump, to figure out why the autopilot had died just south of Kodiak the previous October. Much else made the list that trip, but snow prevented all but interior work.”
“In late May I returned for another month and with a list requiring a size nine font to fit it to one page. In time, all the must-do items were crossed off and a few nice-to-haves as well: a new aluminum dodger, welded tangs on the aft quarter for the Jordan Series Drogue, new Hood sails.”
The early part of Leg Two included a visit to Geographic Harbor, tucked into the base of Alaska’s westward-sweeping “arm” that breaks into the Aleutian Islands. The duo was met by a local population of well-fed brown bears who feast on salmon and are otherwise uninterested in humans.
“A landlocked anchorage draws one’s attention. By landlocked we mean that islands and spits and other terra firma overlap around the harbor so as to entirely close off the small inner body of water from the larger outer. It implies safety in all weathers, something unusual in an anchorage, and suggests that once hooked, you can let your guard down.”
“Already we are men on a schedule,” wrote Randall of the need to make miles to the east. “It’s hard to enjoy one’s present surroundings with so many uncertain miles in one’s future. I can feel it happening now as we make for Sand Point and leave to starboard Alaskan mountains carved out of the sky and their deep, quiet bays. I wish to reject the rush.
“Why pursue a distant prize when the jewel in the lotus is right here? Thrice today I have suggested to Harmon the fun of a summer in the Aleutians over the sure difficulties up north, thrice rejected. We have a goal, I am reminded, and it will not be repudiated. I get it. We need to make miles, but I’ll bet you now that we arrive too early!”
We’ll be checking in with Randall and Harmon as they navigate the ice and make their way through the Northwest Passage, bound for Greenland, then headed for Cape Horn next year.
Sailagram: A Snapshot of July Sailing
July was such a fun, colorful month on the Bay! These photos cover everything from SailGP to watching the sunset over the Golden Gate Bridge, with hours of relaxing and racing in between. Thanks to everyone who contributed to one of our favorite galleries this year!
Visit Annapolis in the Fall for the Sailboat Show
October might seem a ways away, but it’s never too early to start planning your trip to the Annapolis Sailboat Show. This year’s show is shaping up to be a doozy with over 200 sailboats and more than 550 exhibitors expected to file into downtown Annapolis on October 10-14. Tickets and show info.