Category: intercolleigate sailing

ABOUT COLLEGE SAILING

THE FOLLOWING WAS WRITTEN BY CHRIS LOVE.   I would be curious to understand the circumstances surrounding this post in “Sailgroove”.  We did not get to a point where this kind of thing happens overnight. All sports have been heading towards this for quite a long time. I remember reading not long ago about an Optimist regatta (children 7-12 years old) where the complaint was that there were too many coaches on the race course.

I was desperate to learn more when I was growing up, learning to sail. I probably would have embraced the idea of having a coach following me and telling me what to do; up to a point. I am able to look back at my time on the water with the best of memories, especially in college.

I look forward to understanding more about these events. For me this is a reflection of our times. I recognize that we can not turn back the clock, to a simpler time; but we always need to consider where we are going. I  would enjoy hearing opinions from those of you who might like to express their thoughts.

It’s not the least bit uncommon for a baseball umpire to stand toe to toe with a manager, mask in hand, shoulders relaxed, stoically taking an earful of harsh words and a fateful of spit as the coach reams him out for a call he doesn’t like, only to burst to life, dramatically point to the dugout and yell “you’re out of here!” It’s generally part of the ceremony for the coach to kick some dirt, insult the man’s mother, saunter back down the steps to the boos or cheers (or both) from the crowd and hand off the clipboard to the assistant manager so the game may continue.  Not uncommon at all–in fact, it’s one of the sport’s great traditions.

But compared to the barbaric sport of flying balls and dirty mitts, sailing is a gentleman’s game.  Coaches and sailing officials would never interact in such a crude and brutish way.  A combination of complicated litigation and cocktails at the bar is enough to solve our differences.  No need to shout or make a scene by kicking someone off the water, right?

Well, in collegiate sailing this weekend, a scene was made.  Two coaches were asked to leave and/or not return on the second day, per a sailing instruction that has been on the books at MIT for some time.  It basically says that if a coach says something negative to an umpire, they may be banned from the premises for the rest of the regatta. This was the first time it has been utilized.  Without getting into the unpleasant business of who said what to whom (and I honestly don’t know as I wasn’t there myself) I think this incident opens up an interesting and potentially positive discussion for collegiate sailing.  Is this a good rule and should it be implemented more widely?  Is it necessary and is it effective in its goal to protect ICSA’s staff of volunteer umpires?

You can’t argue the fact that being a sports official is hard–no matter what you’re going to piss people off, even if you’re right all the time (which isn’t possible either given the limitations of powerboats as vantage points for the complex game of team racing.)  There should be some level of shielding for these kind souls who give their weekends away accepting this thankless job for no compensation.  But is removing a coach a necessary measure in our sport?  What must someone do to need to be removed from the premises?

Have your say, but please don’t turn this thread into a firing range on those who were involved in this particular incident.

URI SAILING TEAM 75TH ANNIVERSARY

This Saturday evening at the Hyatt in Newport will be a seventy-fifth anniversary of the URI Sailing Team. For me I have nothing but fond memories of that time. I will not make it to the event but here are some pictures looking back

If anyone has more photos or memorabilia I would very much like to here from you.

The First Earth Day

The First Earth Day, April 22, 1970. I had a girlfriend attending Radcliffe, so I spend more time in Cambridge than I might have otherwise done. These are photos at that event, at Soldier’s Field. The presence of the Hare Krishna, for me put into question the legitimacy of the day. I never argued the concept of higher consciousness, I could just never take them seriously.

W. H. AUDEN

I was an english major during my college years. At some point during that time W. H. Auden came to URI and spent several days. He came to my classes. I had tea with him. I was able to spend time with a man I thought a great deal of. I liked his poetry, listening to him recite his own works was a joy. He was no less engaging a conversationalist

I feel fortunate to have had that small moment in my life.

When there was no limit on weight

I am not a big person. I have had to deal with my size all my life. I am not whining, I is a simple statement of fact.

In my early years of sailing there was no limit on the amount of weight one could carry. I carried as much as I could bear, more than most other people. I would wear knee pads the wrong way around. I exercised, I built a hiking bench. I would sit, hiking out stacking books or weights on my chest. It should come as no surprise that I had lower back problems.
I had made hiking jackets, by sewing groups of eight sweat shirts together. Then either bailing water onto myself or dunking myself in the water, to gain weight. Once I wore so many, when I turned my head I could not see over the collar of the weight jackets.

BACK TO MY ROOTS

Sunday,during the winter in New England is frostbite day. This past Sunday I had the opportunity to race dinghys against several of my old college teammates, Skip Whyte and Bob Hicks. It occurred to me during the day that I had not sailed a dinghy since 1972. Great fun, I exhibited rust. I really like the format of short races, as in college sailing.

Woodstock Generation

I refer to myself as being of the Woodstock generation; although I was not at Woodstock, in fact, at the time, I had no idea what it was. When Woodstock took place I was in the middle of the Atlantic ocean racing.

I only later found out, after my return from Europe at the end of the summer. My roommate from college picked me up at the airport with the words “How was Woodstock?” To which I replied “What’s Woodstock?”
Once school started I also realized that despite the size of the crowd at Woodstock; if everyone I talked to and had claimed to have been there; the crowd would have been twice as large.
We take for granted today large concerts. Woodstock became an icon for my generation. Still significant, for so many reasons. It represented the good in my generation, but that goodness lasted such a brief moment. The first Earth Day. The Whole Earth Catalogue. I would consider that it was this moment that Buckminster Fuller gained true recognition. Protest against the Vietnam War, due largely as result of the Draft. All of these things and more were positive.
Regrettably I blame my generation for many of the problems we have today. While I college I attended a lecture by Harvey Cox, then teaching a t Harvard. He warned of the impending catastrophe resulting from drugs. My generation wanted to not just change the way things were, they wanted to undo the existing value system; without replacing the values with new set.To be liberated. This created a structureless society. The change was to much at once, and we are living the consequences now.
Hair, became another symbol of rebellion, an outward manifestation, a badge if you like. Anyone with short hair was deemed unworthy. Ironically, anyone with long hair said “don’t judge me by the way I look”; yet they would immediately pass judgement on anyone who did not look like them. Woodstock was supposed to be a symbol of harmony and cooperation; how a large group could co-exist crowded together.

More College Years

College Sailing was so much fun. I had the good fortune to have great teammates; Skip Whyte, Henry Bossett. Mike Fenton, Johnny Hayes,Clay Evans,Chris Wells, Turtle, Norm Windus, and of course our coach Ned Caswell.

We sailed at the Naval Academy several times a year, unsally late fall, and early spring. Annapolis is far enough south that it made a tremendous difference in the weather. They also had fabulous facilities and could host large regattas.
Baltimore was not far away, and Saturday nights would often find us there. Baltimore in the sixties was rough. It had the “Block”; Boston had the “Combat Zone”. I doubt that many people could tell you where these places were, as not a trace exists any longer of their existence. Blaze Starr was famous and she had her Joint in the Block. The Photograph is proof that we were indeed there.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blaze_Starr

La Jolla Museum of Contemporary Art

In 1986 I received a request from The La Jolla Museum of Contemporary Art, for material for an exhibit they were producing on the subject of sailing. I stumbled upon this letter searching for something else. I doubt the curator had any idea of exactly what or why he was requesting these items. In fact, my harnesses changed the way racing boats were handled. No bowman, today would not be wearing his harness all the time. Sail changes evolved as a result, closing the gap between closed course racing and offshore racing.