THE MULTITASKING MULTIHULL MOM

Competing in Olympic sailing's most challenging discipline is one thing, but doing so with a tyke in tow takes the campaign hustle to a higher level.

- MICHELLE SLADE

SARAH Newberry Moore's son, Iren, just turned 2. Not only is he already wreaking havoc at the New York YC-scattering Goldfish crackers across the manicured lawn at Harbour Court and spilling his grandmother's wine in the prestigious club library-but he's also beginning to know his way around a Nacra 17 better than most adults.

Iren was, for all intents and purposes, born into the current Olympic quad, so it's not surprising that he is quickly learning the ins and outs of elite sailboat racing, just as his mom and her sailing partner, David Liebenberg, have had to adapt to having a baby in the campaign mix. It's an arrangement that is working out just fine.

"If you ask Iren what momma does, it's 'sailboat with Uncle Dave," Newberry Moore says with a smile. "Any time he sees a man with brown hair, he says, 'Uncle Dave, and any man on a sailboat is Uncle Dave. Luckily, his dad looks very different. Dave has been showing him how to do boatwork, and he loves touching all of the parts of the boat and pulling on the lines."

Raising a small child and training as an Olympic hopeful have several things in common: Each is an exhausting and challenging mission. Few US Sailing Team athletes vying for an Olympic spot in the current quad shoulder the additional responsibility of child-rearing: Stu McNay (Mixed 470) is a father of two (5 and 8), and Nikki Barnes (470) recently had her first baby. For Newberry Moore, the pandemic provided her with the time to determine that having a child was what she wanted in addition to continuing to race at the highest level of catamaran racing.