In Sailing Anarchy
In yer face, Rolex
What an honor it is for sailors to have caught the attention of brilliant energy drink marketers, even in our advanced age. We’re no longer lowly connoisseurs of platinum timepieces and French champagne. No, thankfully, we sailors have just been promoted to the gas station drink cooler. Read more.
Filing a Protest
I’m told this America’s Cup will invent new TV heroes to attract fans to fund year-round professional sailors, take the financiers off of the hook, and transfer the costs to an unwitting couch-bound audience duped into an overpriced hat and a junkmailbox crammed with offers from sponsors. “We’re building a new pyramid.” Oh, and sailors should sit quiet and be pleased, “’cause you get the trickle down.”
Passion
According to one of the most comprehensive research studies on recreational sailing ever conducted, sailing ranks 37th out of 46 sports tracked, with only 5% of the population calling themselves fanatics. Three and a half times as many bushwalkers (hikers, in Aussie) are fanatics about what they do. Read more.
The 1 Percent
Search for and friend Werner Meybaum of Sailing Lake Calhoun on Facebook. I doubt that Werner is a billionaire, at least in the monetary sense. Yet Werner is among the most generous sailors I’ve ever found. Inspired by childhood memories of sailing on small lakes in Germany, Werner docks an old boat to a city pier in the Twin Cities, and offers free rides to anyone passing by. First come first serve. Only payment: tell your friends. The scale of Werner’s generosity is matched only by a continuous flow of willing and eager newcomers. Read more.
An Open Letter to Larry Ellison
You can set a new bar for sailing, sailors, and perhaps even for modern America: Erase false gender and age barriers in sailing, engage your family in your dreams, and remind us along the way that prosperity is best defined as the luxury of time spent well with the people you care about. Read more.
Why Sailing Feats Matter
A French sailboat scooted around the globe at an average of almost 25 knots propelled only by pure solar energy and the determination of a tiny team of athletes and technicians. Their stated goal was to complete the circumnavigation in under 50 days, only a 5 year old record, set by Orange II. But Groupama 3’s win might deserve the unenviable designation as the greatest human accomplishment to have earned the least possible attention.
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