From The Archives: Windsurfing, du Moulin, and the Admirals Cup

Here are some moments in sailing history stored in the Scuttlebutt archives…

5 years ago: Britt Viehman, a U.S. national team coach and certified instructor trainer, is the person behind the Clearwater Community Sailing Center’s youth windsurfing team. Viehman of St. Pete Beach (FL) started the team a few years ago as part of the sailing center’s summer sailing program, and now its members are competing both nationally and internationally in highly competitive windsurfing regattas. With the focus in the U.S. on Optimist and Club 420s for youth sailing, Viehman comments on what he sees as the ‘ingredients’ needed to broaden the youth scope in North America to include windsurfing. Full report

10 years ago: Edward du Moulin, of Sands Point, New York, passed away Tuesday morning, March 28, at the age of 91 after battling leukemia for his last year. Until developing the disease, Ed had never spent a night in a hospital, did his daily pushups, and sailed his 42-foot cutter Lady Del almost daily through the end of the summer of 2005. Ed was elected to the America’s Cup Hall of Fame for his management of multiple America’s Cup Campaigns in the 1970’s and 1980’s, mostly teamed with Fritz and Lucy Jewett, Malin and Roberta Burnham, and Dennis Conner. Full report

15 years ago: The cancellation of the Admiral’s Cup and its replacement with a substitute regatta is expected to be announced by the Royal Ocean Racing Club, organisers of the event which, since its inception in 1957, has been the most important for offshore yachts held in British waters. This will certainly be a traumatic day for the club, akin to rugby authorities being forced to announce the cancellation of the Six Nations, but the reality is that Admiral’s Cup has been in steady decline since the beginning of the 1990s while at the same time the sport of sailing has enjoyed a spectacular rise in popularity and British sailors have enjoyed unprecedented success. Full report