From The Archives: Grael, Hoyt, and Cayard

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

5 years ago: Brazilian Torben Grael has the highest number of Olympic medals in his country, and holds the highest number of medals in the history of Olympic sailing. A lot has changed in the sport since Torben won the silver medal in the Soling class at the 1984 Games, and he is not certain about much of it. Here are his remarks regarding the rules, starting sequences, coach boats, and race courses. – Seahorse magazine (Scuttlebutt 3382)

10 years ago: To reverse the decline in sailing participation we have only to examine the common denominator elements of the nation’s most popular sports like fishing, golf, tennis, surfing, skiing, hunting, biking, roller blading and kayaking. The common feature shared by these activities is that they all involve individually operated equipment that can be easily transported by car. It follows that if sailing aspires to anything approaching the popularity of these sports, we must begin with individually operated boats that can easily be transported in or on a car. Once that wider base of self-reliant single handed sailors is created, there is an abundance of worthy and well established classes and types of sailboats for those sailors to graduate to. – Garry Hoyt (Scuttlebutt 2142)

15 years ago: Paul Cayard has a vision that could bring sailing into prime time. It’s a long way off, but if Larry Ellison’s team wins back the Cup in 2003, in about 2006 the Golden Gate Yacht Club will defend it on San Francisco Bay, a natural arena for spectators. “That will really change the stature of the America’s Cup and sailing in the United States,” Cayard said. “You’d start off Pier 39, kind of between Alcatraz and Pier 39, and just go right up to the Golden Gate Bridge. The course fits in there. It’s 3 1/2 miles from Alcatraz to the Golden Gate Bridge. My vision is you go up, you go back and just do one-lap races and you do two-out-of-three instead of one long three-lap race. More starts, more action. – Rich Roberts, The Log (Scuttlebutt 855)