This annual gathering of master skippers and crews reaffirms that teamwork is as essential on the racecourse as it is in life
At the prize giving of San Diego YC’s International Masters Championship in October, Malin Burnham, the 91-year-old sailor and business executive, spoke about the virtues of teamwork; how everything he has achieved in his storied career was a result of being part of a team. As he did so, I scanned the room and observed the faces of sailors on all 11 teams invited to the annual regatta. Many of them were nodding with agreement, because each of us who had skippered in the event, myself included, deeply appreciated the collective efforts of our crews during the intense 11-race, round-robin series.
As masters-age sailors—defined as 45 years or older (the helmsman had to be 60) — many of us listening to Burnham that evening were long in our years and wisdom, but we greatly appreciated the athleticism of our younger crew. The competition in San Diego was strong, even though there was a considerable amount of grey hair among the skippers. For me, the regatta was the conclusion of a full summer of racing 12-Metres, so I felt more confident than ever when racing got underway. I’d assembled a first-rate crew I felt would gel quickly.
With his own team supporting him, Tim Fuller, the regatta chairman, secured the use of privately owned J/105s, found housing for some of the visiting crew, recruited a top-flight race committee, organized post-race social events and set up a first-rate public relations program. An important aspect of the regatta was rotating boats after each race.
Fuller arranged for a series of floats tethered to a large converted tug boat (with a head available for competitors) placed near the starting line for boat rotations. All 11 of the J/105s tied up along the floats as crews swapped gear and spinnakers. The entire process of a rotation took less than 10 minutes.
My crew featured three locals and three out-of-town sailors, which made it fun to watch our team improve over the three-day series. San Diego’s own Bill Campbell served as our tactician. He is familiar with J/105s and San Diego’s waters, was a collegiate champion at the U.S Naval Academy and a three-time America’s Cup navigator. He also won the 2017 International Masters Championship. He and I were in the same second-grade class and have been great friends for more than 60 years. It was an honor to have him calling the shots.
Stu Argo, of Michigan, a veteran of seven America’s Cup campaigns, and one of the finest sail trimmers in America, kept me going fast. He’s quiet when racing, but when he speaks, he always has something important to share.
Craig Leweck, of San Diego, an Etchells world champion crew and two-time Snipe Class North American champion, ably served as our young mastman. He has a calm demeanor during the heat of battle and rarely makes mistakes.
Charlie van Voorhis, a one-time Finn sailor on the U.S. Sailing team, is 6 feet, 5 inches tall and strong as an ox. He too is soft-spoken and handled mainsheet duties deftly.
Paul Hogue, our bowman, is a technology manager and long-distance racer from San Diego.
We held a crew meeting each day on the way out to the starting area. Argo was particularly valuable as we talked through the mechanics of every maneuver. At one point, I smiled thinking about how many crew meetings he must have participated in over the course of his America’s Cup campaigns.
Our team opened the regatta with a win and stood third after the first day of racing. The second day did not go as well, however, and we dropped to seventh in the overall standings. Getting behind early in a race makes it difficult to dig out of a hole, especially in this fleet of savvy senior skippers. We probably made too many tacks trying to get clear air and lost distance in the process. Sometimes keeping it simple is a better approach.
After our poor showing on that second day, I spent the night thinking about my mistakes on the starting line (we were OCS twice) and what we could do better as a team. I visualized our better starts and how we accelerated for speed earlier than other boats. More importantly, in our clean starts, I’d worked to stay away from a pack of boats when on final approach to the line. With clean starts we rebounded on the third day, winning the first race to place fifth overall in the series.
Every regatta will come with its unique highs and lows. One error that stands out fell squarely on me: We were trying to recover from a bad start, and while the wind was trending to the right, we were forced off to the left side of the course on the second beat. Campbell wanted the right, but I overrode him, instead taking a flier to the left. Naturally, we fell farther behind and it cost us at least four places. I immediately regretted not heeding my tactician’s advice.
On a more positive note, however, our starts improved on the final day. The difference was raw determination and getting the boat moving sooner than the other boats. It amazes me how a 10-foot
jump at the start sets a good pace for the remainder of a race. My late-night visualization worked.
On the Saturday evening of the regatta, the San Diego YC hosted a dinner. All skippers were invited to introduce their crews and say a few words. The common theme was that of respect and admiration for everyone’s successes on the water.
Don Trask, at 86, was by far the oldest skipper. He founded the International Masters Championship in 1979 in San Francisco, but in 2012, he and Burnham relocated the event to San Diego. The lighter winds of Southern California were much easier on the old bones of the fleet. During the dinner, Trask received three standing ovations — which were followed by rousing applause for 72-year-old Vince Brun, one of toughest sailors on the water and one of the finest sportsmen in sailing.
Going into the final race of the regatta, only 1 point separated local skipper Chuck Sinks (with Brun on the crew) and Andy Roy, from the Royal Canadian YC in Toronto. Roy and his Canadian teammates won the final race to take the series with 41 points. Roy is a past America’s Cup sailor and is highly respected north of the border. His 3.7-point average demonstrates how close the racing was. Local sailor Scott Harris finished second; Sinks third; and Tad Lacey, a J/105 veteran from San Francisco, placed fourth.
I suppose one should not get emotional after a lifetime of racing,yet keeping emotions in check played a critical role in our (my) performance, as well as our end result. A few days after the regatta, everyone was back home, and we exchanged several messages that spoke well of our experience.
“Great rally Sunday,” Argo wrote. “It was nice meeting new friends and sailing with old friends.”
Campbell was succinct: “We had some moments when we scared the fleet and others of course.”
Hogue noted, “There were lots of laughs and great moments.”
Leweck perhaps summed it up best, writing, “My scars will fade, but the memories live on.”
I’m sure every crew shared similar comments afterward. The International Masters Championship serves as an example of the goodwill a yacht club can achieve when many people work as a unit, race teams and race committee alike.
As Burnham reminded us: “It’s important to spread the load. I have never accomplished anything favorable or positive in my life by myself. I’ve always been part of team.”