From The Archives: Storms, Death, Disruption

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

5 years ago: Thirty-six yachts cast off from Cape Town on January 4 for the 3300nm Cape to Rio Race, with teams representing Angola, Australia, Croatia, Germany, Great Britain, India, Italy and South Africa. But the slogging has not come easy. The race started benignly enough with bright sunshine and 10 knots of breeze, however, as expected a low pressure system, emanating from the South Atlantic, reached the fleet on the first night. With reports of 40 to 60 knts of wind and swells of 6 metres, many yachts experienced difficulties with the conditions including one fatality. (Scuttlebutt 3993)

10 years ago: Paralympic Gold Medalist Nick Scandone (Fountain Valley, Calif.), 42, passed away Friday, Jan. 2, 2009 — after a long battle with ALS, also commonly called Lou Gehrig’s Disease, a debilitating neurodegenerative disease that affects the nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord. Scandone won a coveted gold medal with teammate Maureen McKinnon-Tucker (Marblehead, Mass.) in the SKUD-18 class at the 2008 Paralympic Sailing Regatta in Qingdao, China, this past summer. (Scuttlebutt 2752)

15 years ago: From ISAF President Paul Henderson: “It is discouraging to see the escalation of cost of the Olympic equipment and the need for special, customized boats which makes it difficult and expensive to charter boats for even training regattas. Supplied, standard equipment should be considered for at least 5 events of the Games. Some of the costs may have to be the responsibility of ISAF. The Laser concept has served the sport of sailing well and it epitomizes the true Olympic Spirit. To select 5 of the 11 events where the equipment is not a major factor would be a major step forward in ensuring the health of competitive sailing worldwide.” (Scuttlebutt 1490)