Riding the trail

This week in Scuttlebutt, the newsletter has included some interesting commentary about kids and sailing. 2-time Finn World Champion Hank Lammens states how “the desire of the athlete is paramount” and that he hopes kids are committing to serious training at a young age “for the right reasons.” 2-time Rolex Yachtsman of the Year Ken Read preaches, “that sailing is a means to an end,” where it teaches kids about “teamwork, organization, ownership of an expensive toy, and respect,” and not intended to be a 365-day sport. His fear is that the “way most high-end kid’s programs go today, there will be no more sailors left because they will all be burnt out.”

Among the forty attendees at a recent Opti clinic in Miami were four of the top ten from the 2006 Worlds, winners from the 2006 North Americans, and the current French and Puerto Rican National Champions. How can that roster not impress you? Train with the best, and the best get better. Not sure what happens to the kids that don’t get better - hopefully they continue having a good time - but there is no doubt about our current landscape: the desire to seek higher ground is everywhere. A generation ago, a college Masters degree really set you apart. Today, not so much.

Sailing is just following the same trail as the rest – and maybe not as bad as some sports. The 2002 Winter Olympics were in Salt Lake City, where Utah Olympic Park was built to host, amongst other events, the Nordic jumping. During a ski vacation last week, my family took a tour of the facility, where jumpers continue to train year-round. Any guesses on what the ideal starting age is for a Nordic jumper. Try 4 years old. - Craig Leweck

Hockey and Sailing

It’s winter, and for some parts of the country, Scuttlebutt readers are patiently waiting for spring to come. After chatting this week with Ken and Brad Read about their hockey playing, we then checked in with the “Bo Jackson” of sailing… Hank Lammens.

Hank played professional hockey for 5 Years with the NY Islanders, the Canadian Olympic Team, and the Ottawa Senators. In sailing, he was 2-time World Champion in the Finn class and is presently campaigning an E-22.

Hank on hockey and sailing: “I am Canadian, so Hockey was clearly the first sport for me. While there aren't enough hours in the day to play anymore, I do spend some time on the pond with my kids. I found playing Hockey and sailing Finns were very similar, both mentally and physically. Learning how we prepared for Hockey made me more prepared for sailing and vice versa. I spent a lot of time on the stationary bike for skating, and I feel that directly translated to hiking in a Finn with 40ish lbs of water - plus I was disciplined to spend my time in the weight room.”

Hank’s advice to kids: “The way kids get committed to serious training at a young age, I hope it is for the right reasons. I sailed and played Hockey because I loved it, and not because I was going to win the Finn Gold Cup or play in the Montreal Forum (although these were dreams). I would spend hours on the pond by myself, or hours on end in my Laser with no visions of the Olympics, but I am sure all those hours helped me attain those levels. Can someone successfully compete in two sports today? I am sure they can if their personal trainers and sports physiologists don't get in the way. I think the desire of the athlete is paramount, not if they have the right class to sail (sorry couldn't resist).”

Got to ski

It has been a mild winter out west, with not much snow at the resorts. While I don't get to the mountains as much as I would like, I usually have at least one trip in by now. That all changes this week, as the kids are out of school, so we are taking a flight to Utah this morning for four days at Park City and Snowbird.

Hard to say how much blogging will happen this week, but look for some interesting reports in Scuttlebutt. I enjoyed exchanging notes with Anna Tunnicliffe over the weekend, and we put together some information on another great sailing site in the Dominican Republic. There is also a neat story from a guy that enjoyed a chance opportunity to sail with the Morning Light team while he was vacationing in Hawaii. And next week, look for an investigative report on what is happening in Newport, RI in the winter. - Craig Leweck

Sobriety test

In our search for Video of the Week candidates, we often find great footage that has nothing to do with sailing, and these videos are generally discarded for this reason. However, it would be handy to store these somewhere, as many are pretty funny. While this might not be the most appropriate use of Scuttleblog, this video was pretty funny, and, well, we have made mistakes before.

Conspiracy theory

Scuttlebutt wouldn’t exist without our valuable sponsors. We feel our advertisers are among the best suppliers for the sport, and hope dearly that their support of Scuttlebutt is sufficiently reciprocated by the support our readers toward them.

We field countless inquiries for advertising information, and try our best to determine the motivation behind the inquiry. We do this partly to insure that the inquiring party has something of value, but also to insure that our advertising information isn’t getting into the hands of some evil empire. This is the conspiracy theory part. Not sure why it exists other than it being the nature of competition.

Often times, when we ask for more detailed information from the inquiring party, they never respond back. I guess this fuels the conspiracy theory. One recent request did respond back, and after explaining the purpose of their request, they provided some closing comments that meant so much to me, that I thought I would share them here:

“I'll sign off by complimenting you on your creation. Scuttlebutt is the most vital communication tool in sailing (other than talking to the crew). You've established a valuable franchise and a fiercely loyal following. It's a great example of establishing a real and tightknit electronic community that brings together people from all levels who care about the sport, and who are eager to share insights with each other. That's a serious accomplishment - the technology pundits have been promising for years that such communities would blossom, but, with the exception of a few political blogs for the Washington 'In' crowd, it hasn't happened. Scuttlebutt is a rare and wonderful exception.”

I would assume that after ten years of publishing Scuttlebutt, one of the ‘Curmudgeon’s Observations’ must have said something about never underestimating the value of a kind word. Just in case we have missed that bit of advice, I would like to offer here that saying something nice to someone that you don’t know might be really appreciated. I know I did. - Craig Leweck

Urban Legend

This week Scuttlebutt got tangled up in a story that involved Peter Barrett, Peter Harken, and Bruce Kirby, which all started with an article in Issue 2280 that Bob Merrick wrote nearly five years ago for US SAILING on the subject of Sportsmanship. As it turned out, the facts of Bob’s story proved to be in error: Barrett did drop out of a race in the ’64 Olympics, but not because he hit a mark; in fact, he brushed up against another boat. However, in both story versions, Barrett dropped out because it was the right thing to do.

In 1964, there was no means within the racing rules to absolve an infraction. When you broke a rule, you had to drop out of the race. However, for Barrett, in both versions of the story, no one saw or felt his infraction. That’s the magic of the story. With only Barrett’s conscious guiding his decisions, and with the Gold medal looming, he did the right thing.

Scuttlebutt jumped on the opportunity to poll today’s sailors, to find out if they would handle it the same way. Sure, it is easy to be righteous when considering the situation “outside of the moment.” Maybe it’s a sign of the times, but I was relieved to see that some said they wouldn’t have dropped out. Both situations were harmless, they gave no advantage to Barrett, and they did not disturb the race course or the competitors. But everyday I see people that look in more than they look out, and it is not a stretch to imagine how they would have handled this moment.

I am glad that Scuttlebutt was able to straighten out the “Pete Barrett story,” and that while the initial facts were murky, Pete’s actions weren’t. – Craig Leweck

From Five to Three

When I met with Dean Brenner, Chairman of the US Olympic Sailing Committee, last October, he told me how much grief he received after the committee decided to change the 2007 US Sailing Team from five members down to three members in each class. The sailing team is something US sailors work toward, and making the team is one way the up and coming teams can gain some credibility.

Our review this week of America’s Olympic Contenders has revealed a fact that the USOSC already knew… the US isn’t very deep in any class. Most classes have one, or maybe two representatives that can compete on the international level. Only the Star class can go deeper (once everyone returns from the America’s Cup). The windsurfers don’t have anybody.

If the US Sailing Team is to really mean something, it makes total sense to raise the bar. Maybe there needs to be a second tier, like the US Sailing Developmental Team, so it is not all or nothing. Labels do mean something, and it would help that the aspiring teams had something to hang their hats on. Heck, with the way the top teams have their own personal coaches, maybe the US Olympic Sailing team coaches can work just with the developmental group.

It has been interesting doing the review, and we look forward to revisiting the list prior to the US trials this fall. - Craig Leweck

Is it a question of ethics?

The discussion of ethical sailing has surfaced recently as it pertains to competing within the boundaries of Rule 42 - the rules that govern kinetics. Having competed in Snipes at a time when winning downwind had everything to do with the ooching ability of my crew, and having been disqualified at the Snipe Worlds by an umpire for pumping, I have walked that line that distinguishes what is allowed in the rules and what isn’t. While the position of the line has changed over the years, it is no less clear now as umpires and competitors continue to navigate the gray area between right and wrong.

Not every class of boat faces this issue, but most performance boats do. To compete at the top level, speed is king, and if your boat responds to sail pumping, boat rocking, and rudder sculling, than that must be part of your game. Seeking the limit of the rule is venturing toward the gray area that represents the boundary, which is further influenced by the standards set within your class. Observers at the Miami OCR have said that American Laser Radial sailor Paige Railey was rocking excessively, which led to her disqualification from the event. But they also said that if Paige’s kinetic actions were transposed into the male-dominated Laser class, she would have been consistent within the standard of that group. Hmm.

So is breaking a kinetics rule ethically different than breaking other rules in the book? Are we more conscious of pumping too much, than say, tacking too close? Are the actions of a windward boat the same as the actions of a rocking boat? Are the limits we push when using kinetics more obvious than the limits we push when crossing a starboard tacker, luffing a competitor, rounding a mark, etc. Does the broader benefit of a kinetics act - which can provide a speed edge over the fleet - make it more grievous than the benefit of a Part 2 rules violation, which provides an advantage when two or more boats meet?

As long as a limited amount of kinetic actions are permitted, the difference between right and wrong will remain in the eyes of the beholder, and the question of ethics will lie within the intent of the sailor, and whether he or she believes they are competing within the limits of the rule and the standards of their fleet, or if they have consciously and intentionally crossed that line when needed. -- Craig Leweck