>… with “when we were young and fit” stories. You’re depressing me.  ;-)

Looking back it was cool to be a young and enthusiastic racer in the 70’s and 
80’s when C&C type racer/cruisers were being raced competitively by “friends 
and family” crews with owners that worked on their own boats and post-race 
parties were whole fleet affairs.  The camaraderie amongst the fleet along with 
the sense of Corinthian style adherence to the racing rules enhanced the 
owner’s sense of value for the $$ invested.

Following this year’s VOR has left several very deep impressions.  One is how 
athletic (mostly young, all fit) the crews need to be to sail at anything close 
to 100%.  The physical training and nutritional programs are impressive.  At 
the peak of my offshore racing I was not aware of any crew, including the “gold 
platers” that ran training and nutrition programs. Mostly it was a discussion 
on what type of beer to have onboard for happy hour with the nutrition left up 
to the wives and girlfriends.  I don’t think I could last a full day as a VOR 
65 crew.

Another impression is how well the VOR management and skippers have been 
keeping up the sense of fair play with the one design concept boats/sails 
maintained by an independent maintenance crew.  The tight racing even after 
5,000 miles along with the fleet’s reliability have enhanced the spectator 
value.  I have watched several finishes live when the order of finish was in 
doubt up to the last 20 minutes or so.

And lastly, the balance of promotion and branding by the organizers and 
sponsors has not ruined the experience.  Some events go too far into the ISAF / 
Professional business direction for my taste.  Other events go into way too 
much of the participants personal lives/story.  The VOR management seems to 
have pulled off an acceptable balance between the various commercial needs 
which gives me optimism for the next event.

Martin DeYoung
Calypso
1971 C&C 43
Seattle

[Description: Description: Description: 
cid:D1BF9853-22F7-47FB-86F2-4115CE0BAF2F]

From: CnC-List [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Dave Godwin 
via CnC-List
Sent: Thursday, June 18, 2015 2:08 PM
To: [email protected]
Cc: Dave Godwin
Subject: Re: Stus-List Pacific Sea stories

Okay Martin, enough with “when we were young and fit” stories. You’re 
depressing me.  ;-)

Got back last Monday from helping one of my “old” racing buddies and other old 
race crew deliver his Sabre 426 from Annapolis to Block Island in preparation 
(Storm Trysail member and PRO) for BI Race week. I was the “young kid” at 63…

It was funny though; we picked up 20 knot Southwesterlies off Atlantic City and 
set the asym. Hoisted that sucker till it was blocked only to see in fall into 
the water to leeward. Shackle opened up. The offending person, aka The Owner, 
started up the mast to retrieve the halyard. After banging around at the first 
spreader he motioned to us to drop him back to the deck.

See, with old age comes wisdom…

Cheers,
Dave Godwin
1982 C&C 37 - Ronin
Reedville - Chesapeake Bay
Ronin’s Overdue Refit<http://roninrebuild.blogspot.com/>

P.S. We moored next to a nice C&C 40. Not Andy’s though….
_______________________________________________

Email address:
[email protected]
To change your list preferences, including unsubscribing -- go to the bottom of 
page at:
http://cnc-list.com/mailman/listinfo/cnc-list_cnc-list.com

Reply via email to