This story has allowed me the opportunity to express my long held thought that EVERYONE has a story. Over the years I have listened to many; this story had a happy ending. For the others we can only have hope.
I don’t know about you but I was one of those people who believed that people never got hurt on boats. (I never wore a safety harness until more recently in my life)
Somehow I link this topic with the idea that sailing is not really a sport. So how can one be injured sailing?
Long time friend Dr. Garry Fisher has had a long and abiding interest in injuries on boats and how to treat them and better still avoid them. He has written and spoken over the years on this topic; collecting statistical data on the subject.
Particularly with the evolution of yacht design, the behavior of the hull forms at sea has changed how we manage ourselves onboard. The motion of “newer” shapes is unfortunately conducive to more injuries. The clearest illustration of this are the Volvo 70’s.
Back to the “sailing is not a sport” idea; It was always a sport and like everything today that has only accelerated with time. Look at college sailing, and the ultimate challenge: Volvo 70’s. These are very physically demanding.
ARGUMENT FOR “IS SAILING A SPORT”
When we need information, we tend to use our favorite internet search
engine. And when the information cannot be found, there are websites where
you can ask your question. Here is what somebody asked on Answers.Yahoo.com:
“Okay, so I personally know sailing is a sport, although some a-hole in my
school (excuse my French) is deliberately trying to explain to me that it is
in fact not a sport because all you do is move a tiller around. Obviously
this is not true.
“His argument is based upon that he does not see any ‘professional sailors’
around on TV all the time, and he doesn’t watch Olympic sailing. He also
says he does not see sailing in the sports column on the internet. We argue
on the bus, and so far on the bus they say that sailing is not a sport (they
did a survey with five people), and I did admit it was not a popular sport
in America.
PROVIDENCE, R.I., Jan. 6 (UPI) — Seventy-nine percent of dinghy and keel sailors report at least one injury in the last year, but most of the injuries are minor, U.S. researchers say.
Study leader Dr. Andrew Nathanson of Rhode Island Hospital said 4 percent of the injuries were considered serious enough to require evacuation from the vessel and/or hospitalization.
“It’s important to note that nearly half of the injuries reported were minor and required no treatment,” Nathanson said in a statement.
Nathanson and colleagues surveyed 1,860 sailors who reported 1,715 injuries in the last year on small boats with crews of one or two called dinghies and larger ones with a crew as many as 16 — keel boats — like those used in the America’s Cup races.
The study, published in the journal Wilderness and Environmental Medicine, indicated the most common injuries were contusions, lacerations and sprains. Injuries were mostly caused by trips and falls, collision with an object or a fellow crew member, or being caught in the lines. Seventy-one percent of injuries occurred on keel boats.
“What is most alarming about this survey is the fact that only 30 percent of the sailors who responded reported wearing a life jacket,” Nathanson said.
Another concerning finding was that 16 percent of the sailors reported at least one sunburn, Nathanson said.
Published on San Francisco Examiner (http://www.sfexaminer.com)
Home > America’s Cup deal was sweetened to bring race to San Francisco
America’s Cup deal was sweetened to bring race to San Francisco
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Into the future: The Oracle Racing team and The City negotiated a last-minute deal that was more favorable for billionaire Larry Ellison and gained him flexibility. (Getty Images file photo
Larry Ellison had more to celebrate on the evening of Dec. 31 than the coming new year. The deal his yacht racing team signed that afternoon to bring the America’s Cup race to San Francisco in 2013 was much sweeter than the one The City floated just weeks before.
In negotiations with The City that occurred after the billionaire’s team made good on a threat to begin simultaneous negotiations with Rhode Island, Oracle Racing secured several potentially lucrative concessions.
The changes included elimination of a guarantee that The City would earn a small share of the revenues from the sale of condominiums to eventually be constructed on a waterfront property south of the Bay Bridge.
The City also clarified how it will get the state to lift restrictions on the 2-acre property so it can be sold outright to Ellison’s development team. And that team now has more flexibility about what it does with the $55 million it has agreed to invest in city property.
On Dec. 14, after a host of last-minute changes, the Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a host-city agreement that gave the mayor wiggle room to keep negotiating as long as The City wouldn’t have to spend any extra money. Yet the approval didn’t prohibit city officials from negotiating away potential income.
Ellison’s team won the America’s Cup in February, including the power to decide where the next race would be held.
Ellison said he’d like to bring the race to San Francisco Bay, and his team spent 10 months negotiating with San Francisco over a host-city agreement.
Port of San Francisco officials wouldn’t comment on whether the dalliance with Rhode Island was used as leverage to get more from The City. However, Port Special Projects Manager Brad Benson said the team desired greater certainty of return on its investment.
The final deal also allows the team to recoup its money if it invests more than $55 million. Developers are guaranteed 66-year leases if they invest at least $10 million in Pier 28 and $15 million in Pier 26.
In exchange for these concessions, Benson said The City received a promise that the team would invest the $55 million before 2013.
City Budget Analyst Harvey Rose, who has provided several critical analyses of prior drafts of the deal, said he would not be examining the final deal unless expressly asked to do so by the new Board of Supervisors.
kworth@sfexaminer.com
How the deal changed
The America’s Cup Host City Agreement changed between the version approved by the Board of Supervisors on Dec. 14 and the version finalized by the Mayor’s Office on Dec. 31. Here are some of the changes:
Reduces revenues: Deletes a provision from prior drafts that would have allowed the Port of San Francisco to earn a small share of the revenues created when condominiums on the site are sold.
Enables property transfer: Laid out The City’s duties to remove all legal restrictions on Seawall 330, so that Ellison’s Oracle Racing team can own the property free and clear, rather than having to lease it for 75 years.
Clarifies developer revenues: Creates a mechanism for The City to pay back the developer for certain improvements on the waterfront, bringing the property back under city control. Spells out and speeds up the timeline by which an infrastructure financing district — a district that would allow developers to collect local taxes for public improvements to the waterfront property they’ve developed — would be proposed.
Established rental rates: Sets rates for the long-term leases of Piers 30-32 as $4 per square foot, and of Piers 26 and 28 as $6 per square foot.
NYYC Members Bill and Will Hubbard in Rolex Sydney Hobart Race
The Hubbards’ Dawn Star at the start of the 2010 Rolex Sydney Hobart Race.
Photo Rolex/Daniel Forster.
Hobart, Australia — Jan 1, 2011 — It was a bright and windy morning today when boat owners, crews, friends and family gathered on the lawn of the Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania in warm sunshine for the official prize-giving of the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race 2010. The race’s rich 66-year history provides for an impressive collection of race booty: intricately crafted silver trophies, hand-carved half models and unique awards.
Just finishing the race makes you a winner resonated with the father and son team aboard the US entry, Dawn Star. Keen sailors and competitors Bill and Will Hubbard – NYYC members — shared a life-long dream of sailing in a Rolex Sydney Hobart, what has become known as the world’s toughest ocean going race. The 76-year old Hubbard said of the race, “I can honestly say it was the worst race and the best race I’ve ever done—and that’s the honest to God’s truth. The second day was hell on earth. I’ve never been so unhappy and thought that I made a major error in judgment.”
Bill Hubbard, 26, said the race was, “Wet! It was a test of endurance, but we got here.” At one point during the race south, Dawn Star was hit by a freak wave and knocked down, sending two crew members overboard. “Their safety gear kept them from being lost,” admitted the younger Hubbard.
And with a twinkle in his eye, the sunburned and unshaven elder Hubbard looked back on the adventure that was the 2010 Rolex Sydney Hobart and said, “The fourth day was the most fantastic day on the water we’ve ever spent. The wind was perfect. The weather was perfect and in that night every star in the sky was out. It was beautiful.”
Before leaving Sydney, Bill Hubbard’s son, Will, sailed their Baltic 46 Dawn Star from San Diego last February to be in Sydney for the race. This was the first Rolex Sydney Hobart for the pair.
The American sailing duo has always wanted to compete in the Rolex Sydney Hobart. Bill said, “There are a couple of reasons. My grandfather was Australian, and we have a number of relatives here. Over the last 10 years we’ve competed in a number of world-class races, including the Rolex Transatlantic Challenge and the Newport Bermuda Race, and have done well. The Rolex Sydney Hobart was a natural, and we thought we must add this race. It’s one of the premier, if not the premier, rough ocean passage races of the circuit. We thought, what the heck, let’s do it.”
The father and son team won the St. David’s Lighthouse Trophy in the 2006 Bermuda Race in their previous Lively Lady II.
‘WE GOT PLAYED’ – THE SAGA OF LITTLE RHODY
By Herb McCormick, yachting journalist
Here in Rhode Island, like last year, and the one before that, it’s been an exceptionally crummy year. In his Saturday column for the Providence Journal, the state’s biggest paper, sportswriter Bill Reynolds summed it up thusly: “Let’s see: high unemployment (about 12% and climbing), the Central Falls school disaster, everyone talking about moving to North Carolina, fear and loathing everywhere you go in R.I. Slink out the door, 2010.”
I grew up here, in Newport, and my dad’s longtime bookie, Nickie C at the old Cliff Walk Manor, would’ve wished the year farewell in similar fashion with his favorite expression: “Don’t let the screen door hit you in the ass on the way out.”
So when the news came down late on New Year’s Eve that the America’s Cup had been awarded to San Francisco after an 11th hour bid by the state to lure it to Newport, it seemed like the inevitable capper to a crappy year. As I watched the new flash on the tube a single word leapt to mind: “Perfect.”
A more accurate analysis was put forth in the “comments” section of the online story in the next morning’s ProJo. It was the first in a long string of like-minded assessments from folks who don’t happen to live by the water and who saw through the sham from the outset. I can’t remember if it was Vinnie from Cranston or Paulie from Pawtucket or Rocco from Woonsocket but it doesn’t really matter. Vinnie or Rocco or whoever it was absolutely nailed it: “We got played.”
Yo, Vinnie. Truth, brother.
Over the holidays I watched an old Charlie Brown Christmas special with my daughter. I love the fact that the “adults” never actually speak…you know they’re saying something by the single, repeated, droning note of an oboe or something: “Wah, wah, wah…”
A lot of good people put a lot of effort into trying to bring the Cup “home,” and though I tried to tell everyone who brought it up that there was an EXTREMELY strong possibility that we were being used as a negotiating tool for the ongoing talks in San Fran (not to mention the fact that finding the money that was being bandied about in a state on the brink of insolvement was going to be, um, tricky), optimism was high. There is little hope in RI at the moment (ironically, “Hope” is the state’s motto), and the possibility of a flood of jobs and tourists and development was strong ju-ju. Like, man, we needed this. Bad.
And in the aftermath of the decision, a lot of politicians and an Oracle spokesman were quoted about how close we’d come, and how cool that was, and what little doucats we might get tossed our way if this or that might happen down the road. But it all sounded like a lecture to Linus to me: “Wah, wah, wah, wah, waaaaaaaaaaaaaaah.” Noise. More noise. Endless noise.
Anyway, congratulations San Francisco. You’ll put on a hell of a regatta in the prettiest city on the planet. Honestly, when we first heard that the Cup was coming to Northern California, we were overjoyed.
Then, suddenly and dramatically, we were part of the discussion, and we allowed ourselves the luxury of dreaming, hoping against hope we weren’t in the crossfires of shysters and soundbites.
But here in hapless Little Rhody, the song remains the same. We got played.
At a time of the year when we pause to give thanks for what we have; think also of those who do not.
BILL LANGAN, YACHT DESIGNER
Michael William (Bill) Langan, age 55, died peacefully on December 31 at the Dana-Farber/Brigham & Women’s Cancer Center after a courageous battle with leukemia.
Just two months ago, Bill was honored with the prestigious Leadership Award by the International Superyacht Society (ISS), recognized by his peers for his outstanding contributions to the standards, prestige and character of the luxury yachting industry.
Although he was unable to travel to accept the award in person, he was deeply moved by this tribute.
Born in Greenwich, Connecticut on June 9, 1955 to Dr. Michael Joseph and Kathleen Holman Langan, Bill competed in most of the major ocean sailing races around the world. Starting in the sport on Long Island Sound at age 10, he was proud to have participated in 20 consecutive Newport Bermuda Races, his first at age 15, and to eventually serve as the race’s Technical Director.
Bill graduated from Greenwich High School and Webb Institute with a BS in Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering. Following a student internship at Sparkman & Stephens, the New York-based yacht design and brokerage firm, he joined the design department there in 1978 as Chief Draftsman. Two years later, Olin Stephens named him Chief Designer, the position Olin himself held for 50 years.
Bill’s early work with S & S included project management of the 12-meter yacht Freedom that won the America’s Cup race of 1980. In preparation for the 1987 America’s Cup challenge, Bill was chosen as designer for the America II campaign sponsored by the New York Yacht Club. 1987 marked the last time 12-meter yachts would compete in the America’s Cup, and with that change Bill decided to concentrate the firm’s business on luxury sailing yachts over 75 feet. Over the course of 20 years with S & S, Bill was responsible for over 300 individual designs.
In 1994, Bill participated in the expedition, headed by former US Secretary of the Treasury William Simon, that navigated the icy conditions of the Northwest Passage from Alaska to Greenland. Bill redesigned, refitted and strengthened Simon’s yacht, the 175-foot Itasca, to make Simon’s dream journey a reality.
In 1998, Bill fulfilled his own dream to found Langan Design Associates, Inc. of Newport, Rhode Island, and settled his family in Jamestown. With Bill at the helm, his firm completed over 40 designs, each unique, but all of them timeless in style, with attention to craftsmanship, advanced technology, and seaworthiness. His design vision was well received starting with his first design, the 130-foot ketch Victoria of Strathearn, that won design awards from both ShowBoats International and the ISS. Later designs include Eos, a 305-foot 3-masted schooner, the largest private sailing yacht in the world to date. Bill encouraged his wife to start her own firm, Candace Langan Interior Decoration, specializing in yacht interiors. Their most recent collaboration, Calliope, a 42-meter motor yacht, is featured in the December issue of Yacht International.
Bill was a member of Conanicut Yacht Club in Jamestown, New York Yacht Club, and the Storm Trysail Club. He served as Chairman of the Cruising Club of America Technical Committee for over 12 years.
Bill was devoted to his family. He is survived by his wife of 30 years, Candace Register Langan, and two children, Tom and Annie of Jamestown, RI, his parents of Greenwich, CT, six siblings and their spouses: Meg Moore (John) of Reston, VA, Ellen Langan (Steve Krafchick) of Seattle, WA, Katie Langan Santee (Kevin) of Mamaroneck, NY, Betsy Dell (Roger) of Roseville, CA, Bob Langan (Margot) of Portland, OR, and Stephen Langan (Kathy) of Bedford, NH; his mother-in-law Anne Mickle Register of Chestertown, MD, brothers-in-law Croft Register (Pam) and Fred Register (Connie), and sixteen nieces and nephews.
A memorial service will be held on Saturday, January 8 at 2 pm at St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church in Jamestown, where Bill and his family are members. Following the church service, there will be a reception at the Conanicut Yacht Club.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorial gifts be given in Bill’s name to
The Jimmy Fund, the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, 10 Brookline Place West, Brookline, MA 02445-7226.
