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