From Skip Novak

Zach Berkowitz’s interview with Scott Oslter hit the nail on the head (Scuttlebutt 3687). You can say the same phenomenon exists in the Volvo Ocean Race. Not many Americans compete, in spite of the American stopovers as a feature since Volvo took over the event in the early 90’s.

In the Whitbread era there was only a handful of American crew involved. It was perceived as a crackpot game by the mainstream sailors of those years. I used to ask myself, while I was searching for American sponsorship in the 80’s, albeit prematurely for many reasons, where is the sense of adventure? There was none. There were no takers. And where were the icons of the sailing genre? We had none. The French had Tabarly and Moitessier, the British had Knox-Johnston and Blyth, New Zealand had Blake. Well, we did have Dennis, but he hardly fit the bill as an adventurous sort – sorry Dennis.

— Read on …