Watching Daniela Moroz and Team USA at the Paris Olympics
Sailing conditions in Marseille, France, haven’t disappointed in the least — they have provided all the Olympic Sailing classes with challenging and visually exciting races in the first week of competition. As the first half of the fleets completed their medal races, it was “business as usual” yesterday, as the remaining six classes began their races in Week Two with steady breezes, waves and a little more than just “walleye chop.”
The highlight for Team USA and California so far has been Hans Henken and Ian Barrows winning a well-deserved bronze medal on their 49er Skiff.
Sunday was the first day for Daniela Moroz as Kite Sailing makes its Olympic Games debut.
Moroz is from Lafayette Park and is a four-time Rolex Yachtswoman of the Year and a six-time Formula Kite world champion.
“Wow, what a day! It was a very tricky race day, very shifty & the wind was super up & down. I’m really happy to put some solid scores on the board,” Moroz wrote on her Instagram page. “My speed feels really good & my racing is getting sharper with each race.”
“It felt super good to finish off the day with a bullet, especially after being in the top 2 spots a few times & crashing earlier on,” Moroz continued. “I am focusing on improving every race & having lots of fun out there!”
Moroz took the tricky conditions in stride, shaking off the pre-regatta jitters to put up a very solid scoreline of 7-3-4-1. She ended the day on a high note, winning the last race before heading back to the beach.
“Overall my racing improved over the day, which I was happy with,” Moroz said. “I got out the jitters; it’s almost like the first day of school jitters, but it’s the first day of the Olympics. I got those out of the way.”
“It’s super cool to see my family, it’s really good energy and special to showcase the sport I love so much on a big stage,” she continued. “The lead up in the last week was really tough as we weren’t able to train while other fleets were racing, but it was super cool to watch my teammates sail their medal races.
“Watching my teammates win a bronze medal was a huge boost and it made me think, ‘if they can win a medal so can I.’ It was great for them and great for the larger program.”
Moroz had a second-place finish in today’s race before the schedule was abandoned due to lack of wind.
The Mixed Dinghy (470) powered through light breeze and fluky conditions paired with leftover ocean swell from yesterday’s mistral on the Bay of Marseille. Team USA athletes Stu McNay (Providence, RI) and Lara Dallman-Weiss (White Bear Lake, MN) stayed in touch with the fleet through the difficult conditions, scoring 11-6 in the day’s two races, which landed them in 12th overall for their third day of competition.
“We had to have our wind shift noses up and alert,” McNay noted. “We were rolling with the punches as best we could. We had some ups, had some downs, but I’m really proud of how we sailed and we live to fight another day!”
There are two days of regular racing left in the Mixed Dinghy, where McNay and Dallman-Weiss will fight to make the top 10 in order to qualify for the medal race on August 7. Given the work they have done to date, don’t rule them out.
Erika Reineke, strategist for SailGP’s Team USA, had a day of opposites in the Women’s Dinghy (ILCA 6). She pushed the starting line in race 7, resulting in a BFD, a black flag disqualification. Hungry for more, Reineke got a top-tier pin start in the day’s second race, using her speed to stay ahead of the fleet and finishing second behind Hungary’s Maria Erdi.
The late afternoon breeze saw upwind foiling conditions for the Mixed Multihull (Nacra 17). Team USA’s Sarah Newberry Moore (Miami, FL) and David Liebenberg (Richmond, CA) scored 14, 13, 16 over the day’s three races as they struggled to make inroads into the top 10.
