American flashes 'Trump' card ahead of SuperFoiler Grand Prix final
by Nick Vindin 23 Mar 2018 02:39 PDT
23-25 March 2018
SuperFoiler - Busselton, Western Australia © Andrea Francolini
The solitary American sailor in the SuperFoiler Grand Prix circuit, Dan Morris has been pleasantly surprised by the warm reception the Rolex Big Boat Series champion has received from his Pavement team-mates.
"It is fun to be the only American because it is a cool circuit, it makes you feel you are doing something right," said Pavement's Bowman Dan Morris, "From a political point of view things are bad in the States. Americans are catching a lot of heat, it is great to be out here being accepted by everyone. It is really nice."
Morris says he has made friends for life with his all-Australian Pavement crew of Steve Thomas and Rhys Mara.
"Before sailing together on Pavement I had never sailed with the boys - I had sailed against them a lot in the 49er class. You get a lot of respect for each other there. When we joined up sailing together three months ago it was new. Now at the end of the season, we are already planning to do more together. Rhys and I are already committed to the Extreme Sailing Series on Red Bull."
The American says he favours sailing with people he respects, more than sailing with those who happen to be born in his native United States.
"The bummer about Olympic sailing is you have to sail with someone from your country. Not necessarily someone you trust to the level that I trust with these guys. It is great to have the SuperFolier series where you can sail with people you want to sail with regardless of their nationality," said Pavement's international yachtsman.
While he has been welcomed into the fold by his team-mates on the rainbow SuperFoiler, Morris is quick to point out that they haven't missed the chance to direct barbs his way.
"There is plenty of banter, any chance people get there is always a jab at [President] Trump. To be an American and to be in professional sailing is hard. There aren't that many of us in the grand scheme of things."
Despite sitting in third position and just four points off the outright lead, Morris is confident there is still room for improvement.
"This series there have been moments when we are definitely the fastest boat in the fleet but we feel we have been inconsistent. We have felt really fast at times and at others we have been really rough. I don't think switch off is the word but if you miss one decision you are just a click behind. I think that lack of consistency is holding us back from winning more races."
And the Pavement trio are targeting the ultimate prize – the Ben Lexcen Trophy and a regatta win at the Expr3ss! SuperFoiler Grand Final in Sydney.
"Winning the event is the only way to win the series. To win the event you have to win races," said Morris, "We have spoken about it and for sure that is the goal here in Sydney. Trying to have performance-based goals rather than results based goals will make it easy for us to succeed," said Pavement's bowman.
"It is going to be exciting and constant drama which will be exciting but for us calm sailing will be the ticket to succeeding this week. Sailing in a confident, calm and collected manner - just keeping it tranquillo will help," said the American.
The Expr3ss! SuperFoiler Grand Final - Sydney will reach its epic conclusion on Sydney Harbour across Friday 23rd, Saturday 24th and Sunday 25th of March 2018.
Championship Standings: (heading into the Final Regatta)
Euroflex, 19pts
tech2, 17pts
Pavement, 16pts
Record Point, 12pts
iD Intranet, 11pts
Kleenmaid, 10pts