July 21, 2015
CORINTHIAN SPIRIT
In the mid 80’s I moved to Santa Cruz for one single
reason. It is an awesome surf city! After my first summer of no waves, I yearned
for something to “get my ya-ya’s” during the summer months. I bought my first Hobie Cat and found what a
turn on sailing is. Surfing was still my
all consuming passion. I stepped through
many frozen puddles at the crack of dawn to get empty waves. Ultimately, the lure of the waves lost its
luster for me because of all of the “idiots” in the water. I was drawn to sailing because of the
predominance of the “Corinthian Spirit”.
I tired of dealing with 18year olds that wanted to fight it out on the
beach after they would burn me on a 3 foot wave. There was no comparison to the experience I
got from my sailing partners, who were always offering words of encouragement
and giving pointers on how to improve.
Sailing has always been known for its Corinthian
Spirit. A few summers ago, I assisted
the race committee in the North American 505 Championships. At the national championship level, you would
think that some of the Corinthian spirit would dissipate. I was astounded coming down to the lower
parking area to find all of the competitors sitting in a huge circle. Imagine 50-70 people sitting in a circle
while the top sailors are offering tips on improving their sailing and
results! This is a key example of the
Corinthian spirit that draws me to sailing.
Now I would not expect Dean Barker and Jimmy Spithill to be trading
secrets over beers. Big money can dampen
the Corinthian spirit.
I challenge anyone to offer another sport that has a
Corinthian spirit like sailing. Look at
all of the sports fanatics when their team wins or loses. Terms like “WE DOMINATE!” or “WE KICKED ASS”
are common. Sailing is not like
this. Though there was tremendous
patriotic spirit when Oracle won the Americas cup, EVERY SAILOR showed
tremendous respect for Dean Barker and his team.
What does the Corinthian Spirit entail? I would think it would always be to
compliment people that have sailed with and against you. The boats that did not win should compliment
the winners. Winners should graciously
accept the compliment. Of course there
is a certain bravado that occurs on the boat of victors. The high fives and congratulations exchanged
between crew members for a race well sailed.
Off the boat, humility should be the rule. When people compliment and ask about your
tactics or how you did this or that to win, be willing to discuss the aspects
of the race that allowed you to dominate.
This is the Corinthian spirit.
It is very rewarding to me to see everyone pick up their
game. The starts are much more
interesting as the season progresses as everyone improves. It is always exciting to have 4 boats
rounding a mark in close quarters even after 4 miles of race course. Vance has improved her boat with Homer’s work
improving bottom defects. Pacific Spirit
got a folding prop. One by one, each
boat is doing what it takes to improve.
This is a good thing.
Sailing Mentors
We have all had sailing mentors. It is said that Ernie Rideout taught and
mentored literally thousands of sailors.
He will certainly be missed. I am
guilty of using mentors. I have some
very good sailors on my boat that I learn from constantly. The week before last, Mike Gross was on my
boat suggesting we tack over early to the inside. I negated his suggestion, thinking it better
to at least clear the pier when we did tack.
While we did moderately well, we would have done better if I had
followed his suggestion. The following
week, Mike was not on board and we were presented with an identical
situation. I tacked over early and we
did much better. The point is: Mentors
are there to teach, you’d better be learning because they will not always be
there. Most of our boats on Catalina
Tuesdays have a mentor on board, so learn while you can. Of course if your competitive spirit is
excessive, you can always only race when your “ace-in-the-hole” mentor is on
board. Many of the sailors that Ernie
mentored learned from the master and went on to win national championships in
their class.
OTHER REGATTAS:
As I said, everyone is picking up their game. It is one thing to do well in our informal
Tuesday night races. Why not show your
improvement in a sanctioned race. Big
Brothers Big Sisters will be August 9.
Let’s all participate and show our improvements, you may even get some
hardware (Trophy) to take home. There is
also the Fall Score series put on by SCYC that has a Jib and Main division that
we all should sail in.
_/) _/)
I was out of town for the July 21 Catalina Night. The report I got indicated the order at the
end of the race was: Perfect 36 FIRST! Followed by Pacific Spirit, Kicks,
Aeolian, the Saber 34 and Tres Santos.
Congratulations to Perfect 36.
THIS COMING TUESDAY (JULY 28) IS BARBECUE NIGHT AT
SCYC AFTER THE RACE. THE CLUB AND BAR
WILL BE OPEN. BRING YOUR FAVORITE
GRILLING FOOD TO SOCIALIZE WITH OTHER CATALINA TUESDAY PARTICIPANTS.
I am looking forward to next Tuesday’s sail.
Barry Keeler
Sailing Pair A DIce
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