John Bonds'

Philosophical notes from American Sailor

Part II

When I was executive director of USYRU/US SAILING, I particularly enjoyed writing editorials for our membership magazine. Some of them, despite their vintage quality, stand the test of time quite well. We're archiving them here, for general reference, without attempting to bring them up to date. I think they're interesting both for the time they reflect (1989-94) and to illustrate that things really stay much the same in this grand sport. I hope you enjoy them…again. J

Training, Orientation and Integration in Junior Programs

May 1990

Last year I wrote about becoming involved in Junior Sailing programs, and how it would change your life. At this time of year, as so many Junior Programs are gearing up for another season, another perspective on Junior Sailing seems in order. Recently, I spoke to the Southern California Youth Yachting Association's Junior Sailing Conference about the objectives of these programs. I think that to some extent these remarks offer some new ideas that may be of use to us all as we consider support and structure of these programs.

It's always important to keep in mind that the USYRU Training Program grew out of members' need for a common system of instruction, and the support systems such as school insurance. Of all the USYRU programs, the resulting training system may be the most successful in the long run in furthering the objectives of the Union.

There are three major objectives of our Training system, particularly where they are used in Junior Programs. These are Instruction, Orientation/Socialization and Integration. Sometimes our programs perform the first function quite well but neglect the other and, in my view, equally important objectives.

Instruction is well documented in the USYRU training materials, instructor training programs and the Modular Program Planner packages. The system was well described in the April issue of American Sailor, so I won't repeat that. Suffice it to say that this is simply the best system in the world for teaching young sailors to sail and then to race. We did it right, and it shows.

Orientation/Socialization is the second objective of our programs. We're all interested in doing more than simply teaching the techniques of sailing to our youth. We want to imbue in them the norms of the sport as they have been passed along to us. Generally, we talk about teaching good sportsmanship and use that as a mental shorthand to describe what we mean, which really a whole social behavior system exemplifying good manners and consideration for others. Respect for the environment, for one's body, for the property of others and for their beliefs is all part of this social code which is an essential part of our sport. Teaching these norms is an essential part of any Junior program.

Finally, Integration into the sport is equally important if the new sailor is going to continue his or her involvement in it. Junior Sailing is not an isolated life experience, but an introduction into a way of life if we do it correctly. To maximize our chances of achieving that overall goal, we must make the new sailor feel that s/he is an integral part of the sport, is welcomed into the fold and treated as an "insider" by the other participants in the sport. Ours is an activity that is very daunting to a newcomer, with a distinctive language, hallowed halls where juniors are sometimes seen but not heard, and requiring years of experience to achieve recognition in competition. We must make a special effort to recognize our new recruits and make them welcome. In this respect, including USYRU Youth membership in every Junior program fee can be a major contributor to the achievement of this goal. For $10 ($20 in 2004), the new sailor becomes a part of the Sailor's Organization, gets the official rules of the sport, and the official magazine of the sport for a year [these days I expect that entry into the US SAILING website is the equivalent of that—JB note]. It's hard to beat this kind of bargain. But at this point, I'd guess that less than one in ten junior sailors are members, and we all lose in that equation.

So as you begin to plan your junior program for the future, consider these goals and ensure that you've included them all. We stand ready to help in this as in any other program associated with the programs.

Editorial Policy

May 1990

In several locations this spring, I've been queried on the editorial policy for American Sailor. Most of these questions are based on the new publishing arrangement we have with Freeman Publishing of Franklin, Tennessee. I've been happy to answer these questions, but it occurs to me that many of you may wonder about the same things.

USYRU retains complete control of editorial content in the magazine. This is a member magazine, and we're aiming squarely at you who actively race sailboats in this country. This means technical articles on the rules, appeals, race administration, eligibility, training and handicap systems; news from USYRU constituencies; cone-design happenings; news of handicap fleets; new technologies which affect our sport; and advice from winners on what makes a difference. Our role models are the One Design Yachtsman for inshore sailors and Seahorse for offshore sailors—but keyed to the sport of today. We think it's a good niche for our magazine, and one which really isn't competitive with our friends in the industry. Above all, we are a membership magazine, written by and for USYRU members. Freeman Publishing solicits and manages the advertising business that pays the bills, and manages (and pays for) the production, printing and distribution of the magazine. Freeman also contracts for one or more feature articles each month (usually the headline feature), translates our material into Linatronics format, does the layout and assembles the magazine into pages. We oversee the layout of the magazine and contribute much of the editorial content. We are data-linked with Freeman through Compuserve and FAX communication, and talk with them literally every day as one magazine after another is constructed and sent to the printer.

One big difference in our operation today is that we're very dependent on voluntary input to the magazine. Most of our articles are written by members. This gives them a distinctive flavor, as we don't homogenize their presentation. This stems from my strong feeling that a good magazine should not have a single voice (which I term "Homeric style") but rather should be more like an interesting dinner party where many different voices and opinions are offered on subjects of interest to all who attend. We want Val Hollingsworth's article to sound like Val, terse and powerful Down-East prose. We want you to hear Ginny Long's ebullient enthusiasm for her training programs (which is really based on a deep love for young people) coming through loud and clear. When you meet our authors, we would like for you to feel that you already know them through their writing, and that you will recognize them when they speak. This is a departure from previous practice with American Sailor and it's quite deliberate. It also means that we don't have to edit to the same extent since we accept expressional diversity as a benefit.

Another major difference is size. We're publishing 48 pages now—double the usual size of just a year ago. This gives us a lot more space to report on the sport and to discuss difficult questions in public. For years many of the committees were frustrated by an inability to communicate their news to each other and to other members. With this new space, we are providing monthly column availability to the committees and councils who really make the policy and administer our sport. Issues can be aired publicly, provoking lively and diverse response from you via the "Two-Cents' Worth" cards [bound into the magazine] which go directly to [President] Bill Martin, and which he prizes as a window on the sport. Still to come is a favorite project of mine—the resurrection of the old "News from the Yachting Centers" which Yachting published in my youth. To realize this goal, we need good correspondents from each area to volunteer these reports. Also in the wings are guest editorials from members, which we'll title "Another Opinion," and a series of articles reporting on attendance as a guest at regional regattas by a writer, much like Bob Smith's wonderful series from One-Design Yachtsman of yore, "A Boat is a Boat." Lee Parks is deriving a priority list of regattas to be solicited for invitations for these articles. In any of these projects, if you can help, call Dierdre Wilde, our Communications Director.

Also new, and in the vein of focusing on regional sailing activity, is the monthly feature of "Great Races, Places and Faces." This was a brainstorm of Galen Freeman (our publisher) while he was flying across the country, and it nicely provides a frame in which we can display excellence in achievement and administration of racing across America. Again, for these features we need your input. We get complaints from nearly every area of the country that we're not featuring their area sufficiently. My response is the same everywhere, "Give us the material and we'll publish it!" West Coast articles are needed particularly, as there is perhaps more going on out there than in the rest of the country combined—but we have few articles on it. Black and white photos are also needed.

Continuing from previous practice is the "centerfold" feature section. This is an innovation pioneered by former editor Mark Smith to help target specific advertising on a single subject. It also provides for the magazine a long-term focal point for each issue. We have these features planned out a year ahead of time, addressing topics which are of central importance to the sport. We hope to interest advertisers in picking up the price of these inserts (which are suitable for overprinting—extra copies of these—and use in promotional programs), but we will do a feature whether or not Galen has been successful in selling it. Below, you can see what we have planned for the rest of 1990.

EDITORIAL NOTEBOOK SCHEDULE:

June PHRF Racing

July Collegiate sailing

August Sailing on the Sunny Side: California

Sept Off the Beach (Boardsailing/Multihulls)

Oct Junior Excellence (USYRU/Rolex Junior Sailing Team and the

USYRU/Nautica U.S. Youth Sailing Championship

Nov Sailing Science

Dec USYRU and IYRU Annual Meeting reports

These inserts have created some comment from the members which we have to acknowledge. The One-Design feature in the January issue particularly evoked several comments suggesting that the advertisers had dictated the editorial content. That just wasn't true. The winners contacted by the author of the feature were representatives of those classes which were selected to compete in the USYRU Championship of Champions. Of course, there were some "superstars" in that group—after all, they were the best in 1989. But the relationship between the winners and the advertisers was strictly coincidental. We plan to keep things that way. I'll readily confess that there is continual pressure from the advertising side of things to compromise this position, but we're not going to do that. By our contract, USYRU has complete control of editorial content and we intend to exercise that right fully.

Covers are a special problem. With our financial base, we can't always afford strictly professional quality photos, and we've had some trouble with our printer getting the colors just right. But we're working on the latter and, frankly, I prefer photos of everyday sailors on our covers, given our focus. To help fill this gap, we're going to conduct a prize photo contest this summer. Details will be published in the next American Sailor.

Our editorial policy is really simple: To identify and discuss the central issues in our sport; to provide advanced techniques and insights; to serve the administration of the sport as a reliable communication vehicle; and to feature the people who really make the sport work as sailors and administrators. American Sailor is our magazine, responsive to the membership and targeted at them. We welcome your constructive criticism and suggestion.

PHRF and USYRU

June 1990

PHRF is a great system of handicapping. It's simple, it's locally administered, it's inexpensive, and it works, particularly for production boats. In some traditional circles, it still considered "not quite respectable" since it isn't a measurement-based system, but these circles are getting smaller all the time as PHRF continues to gain strength and success.

USYRU is a strong supporter of PHRF, although in some respects a quiet one, operating mostly behind the scenes in support of the local organizations. Many USYRU services to PHRF sailors are delivered through PHRF and through other organizational members of USYRU. Here are some of these to consider.

Yacht Racing Rules: Obviously, everyone who races uses the rules. But they aren't a gift from God. They result from a continuous process of development guided by volunteers who have become expert in their formulation. Any USYRU member has the right (and perhaps the duty) to submit suggestions for improvement or clarification in the rules. The Rules Committee will then add this item to their agenda, develop a proposal which is considered by the constituent committees and councils of USYRU and, if approved, becomes the substance of a USYRU "submission" to IYRU for a change. All of this costs money and time. The latter is donated by the volunteers involved—the money for telephone conference calls, mail and fax comes from membership dollars.

Appeals: The Amateur Sports Act provides a "right to compete" for athletes, including sailors. No one can deny that right without a due process system involving hearings and appeals. USYRU fulfills that requirement for every sailor, with a carefully structured system of appeals from decisions of race and protest committees, which must be exhausted prior to resort to the court system of the United States. The value of this function was made obvious by the tragedy of the America's Cup case. Had that dispute fallen within the racing rules, millions of dollars would have been saved, and the competition probably would be taking place this summer. Don't want to go to court? BE a USYRU member to preserve that due process system.

Eligibility: We're working hard on this dilemma. Until now, the primary concern was ensuring that our Olympic-potential sailors preserved their eligibility. Now we're starting to consider whether we want to categorize all sailors so that local organizations can define eligibility for their races easily and clearly. Dave Ullman pioneered this approach with the MIR (Marine Industry Representative) rule in Southern California PHRF. He applauds what we're trying to do, and suggests that it should be done on a national basis by the national authority. [JB note: It was subsequently implemented by US SAILING, and then by ISAF, which now administers a world-wide system supplanting the US system.]

Judges and Race Officers: In my view, nothing has improved racing as much as the standards established by USYRU for judges and race officers. We're making a lot of progress here—and in most PHRF races, there's a USYRU judge or race officer involved. It takes a full-time staff person in Newport to manage these essential race administration services—to compile the rule changes, to track the appeals, to process the certifications for judges and race officers. She is paid with membership dollars.

Insurance: This is another transparent service delivered through local organizations. Most of those judges and race officers couldn't afford to provide voluntary service were it not for USYRU's Regatta Liability Insurance program, which is purchased by nearly every yacht club in the country to protect its race officials and club officers from liability arising from the running of races. It is just necessary in the modern world, and the basic premium which makes the club policies possible, is paid for with membership dollars.

There are other insurance programs, too, produced to fill specific needs identified by member organizations over the years. The Borrowed Boat policy is an essential supporting foundation of the USYRU Championship system, which allows anyone to participate whether they own a boat or not. The Sailing School insurance allows clubs to operate schools for children or adults at reasonable levels of expense. The Comprehensive Club insurance programs provide savings of up to 50% over comparable policies. Again, the development of these programs was done by USYRU staff working with insurance professionals.

The Offshore Office provides important support to the very basis of PHRF, particularly with respect to non-production boats. The Irving Pratt Project was funded with private contributions raised by USYRU, and resulted in the revolutionary concept of the Velocity Prediction Program (VPP), upon which many modern designs are predicated. Your boat may have benefited from this research in a very direct way. Similarly, the Performance Packages, that provide polar plots of performance for nearly every production racer/cruiser in America, result from an application of the the VPPs. The International Measurement System (IMS), the direct outcome of the Pratt project, provides the PHRF handicapper with direct insight into the potential of a one-off boat. It is used extensively, and there are continuous interchanges between PHRF handicappers and the USYRU office. Finally, USYRU annually collects and collates all the PHRF handicapping data from all over the country, and prints them in a comprehensive book of handicaps for the use of all fleets and interested individuals. Also, the PHRF Fleet Handbook is updated annually, providing essential information to administrators of local fleets.

The Safety at Sea Committee has contributed significantly to research of subjects which affect PHRF racers directly and, through the Safety Seminars now offered in conjunction with Cruising World magazine and Boat/US, brings this information to sailing areas nationwide. Advances in the understanding of capsize resistance, seaworthiness, improved man overboard recovery techniques and emergency rescue programs have all come from this work.

USYRU's training programs are producing more and more new sailors through well structured school systems—your crews of tomorrow, trained in the basics of the sport, oriented to its norms of sportsmanship and integrated into the sport itself through the extensive junior and youth championship systems.

And finally, our magazine American Sailor is targeted squarely at the racing sailor, written largely by people just like you, about issues and things which are important to you. We'd like for it to be a major voice of PHRF, as fully 40% of our members race PHRF more often than anything else. In fact, that's why this issue features PHRF—to provide a focus for your activity.

So when you hear one of your fleet members ask what USYRU does for PHRF, tell 'em. There's a whole list of services which are essential to your enjoyment of this great sport!

Collegiate Sailing

July 1990

This month you're getting American Sailor a bit late so we can report the results of the Collegiate Nationals. This is the premier event in a league so tough that only Olympic trials surpass it in the view of most participants. In the feature articles you'll find descriptions of the divisions, the races, the winners and their schools. This focus is provided to serve our young members, who are all deeply interested in these results.

I wasn't a collegiate sailor. I wasn't even much of a sailor in the late 1950s when I went to Rice University, which didn't even have a sailing team. But both of my children learned to sail early, and in the equation of choosing a college, the type of team they had was a vital element. My son selected Tulane by religiously scanning the "top ten" lists of Yacht Racing and Cruising, crossing out everything north of Chesapeake Bay (as he hates cold), and then visiting everything left. His sister followed him and joined the Green Wave team, too. Collegiate sailing was a central part of their lives, and enriched them enormously. It's a strong and growing activity at many colleges all over the country.

To USYRU, college sailing is more than an undergraduate activity—it is the primary "farm system" for our U.S. Sailing Team and the Olympic Teams. More than any other characteristic, U.S. Olympic sailors share a background in collegiate sailing. Increasingly, they share another background. Nearly all of them started in junior programs at a USYRU member sailing organization. When I first went to Annapolis in the early 1980s, the dinghy coaches there prided themselves on being able to take a youngster who had never sailed and in four years make of him or her a Collegiate All-American. No more. These days a beginner has too much to learn in most cases to compete successfully with a junior program graduate. Collegiate coaches recruit seriously among the finalists at USYRU Youth and Junior Championships, seeking those potential All-Americans and future Olympians.

The grassroots development program for our best sailors I now an unbroken chain of organized elements beginning with Learn-to-Sail programs, progressing through USYRU championships, then into the collegiate programs, emerging finally into the ranks of elite world-class sailors.

So here in this issue, we salute all our collegiate sailors; those who didn't qualify this year as well as those who did; the second team substitutes as well as the national champions and All-Americans. You make the system work, and you are the future of our sport!

Have a great summer. We look forward to having you back on the water with us.

JB Note: Just above this editorial was a photo of a young Terry Hutchinson, the Collegiate Sailor of the Year in 1990. Terry has since participated in two America's Cup campaigns, won 12 class One-Design National Championships and two world championships. In 2004, he works as a sailmaker in Annapolis. And he's a fine young man, too. J

Sailing on the Sunny Side

August 1990

One of the benefits of being a Naval officer was living in different parts of the country. Beth and I were newlyweds in San Francisco in the early 1960s and our son was born there. After a follow-on tour in Rhode Island we returned to Long Beach in 1969 and stayed for three years. As Director of Navy Sailing (1981-85) I made yearly "swings" through California visiting the NROTC programs which were by then teaching sailing as an integral part of the officer training curriculum, and stopping by the Navy's recreational sailing facilities in San Diego, Camp Pendleton, Long Beach, Port Hueneme, Monterey and San Francisco. I never felt disconnected from my West Coast roots or from my friends there.

Consequently, when I began receiving copies of editorials and other correspondence from California referring to the disconnect between USYRU and West Coast sailing, I was puzzled and concerned. I knew quite well that sailing—particularly sailboat racing—was more than alive and well on the West Coast. California had led the sport in many critical areas throughout the years of my involvement in the sport, and continues to do so. Consequently, I asked for and received permission to repeat the whirlwind visits I had done for the Navy, renewing friendships and this time making new ones for the Union. The trip was made over a week in late February when things were slow (and very cold) in Newport.

These personal visits are more than useful to the Union—they are critical to establishing and maintaining the personal linkages that are one of our primary services to the sport. They show local sailors that those of us involved in the administration are, first of all, sailors like you, who share your concerns and want to hear your side of the issues which confront us all. So Bill [Martin, then President USYRU] and I intend to visit every area of the country every year—he in one year, me in the next. It's just something we have to do. But it goes without saying that it's also great fun for us. Sailors all share a common bond which emerges immediately when barriers are broken down. That happened in California last February, and confirmed what I had known all along—the there isn't a disconnect between USYRU and the West Coast. USYRU is us, not us and them. There is a significant time difference which has an effect that we've got to accommodate. Eventually, I hope to see a branch office of USYRU housed in the SCYA office, datalinked to the Newport computer and staff, to help address this time problem. We expect to have SCYA up on Compuserve with us later in the summer, and we hope that most of the California clubs will follow suit to provide broadcast capability for us to them. But in the interim, we're making a special effort to return West Coast calls as soon as possible.

Sailing "on the Sunny Side" is very special, and it always has been. In this issue we're highlighting that characteristic, with focuses on the innovations which have flowed east, and the personalities that were (and are) responsible for those improvements. You'll find profiles of Great Places, Great Races and lots of Faces here. The latter are more tanned than those of us not blessed with year-round sunshine, and their skills may be better honed all year-round than ours due to the climate. But they're just sailors—like us. Like USYRU.

JB Note: This issue contained the famous spoof article by Gary Mull, "Tactics Around Alcatraz" that was presented absolutely dead-pan.

(Note for John Slater: I have that in pdf and will send it separately. A link to it would be better than having it here, I think.)

Keeping Things in Perspective

February 1991

When we change jobs or ways of life, most of us have some trouble adjusting to the new circumstance. In my case, after 26 years in the Navy, most of the latter phases being in positions of some responsibility, I found myself waking up (still) at 3AM thinking of work problems and possible solutions. It took a real effort of will to say to myself, Knock it off, self! You're no longer involved in projects that affect the defense of the nation. You're helping to administer a sport, and people engage in sport for fun. Relax! It worked, and I no longer have a tape recorder by the bed to capture those wee hours brainstorms (most of which weren't very good anyway). But it took a conscious recognition that I was carrying behavior from a realm in which it was appropriate to another realm in which it wasn't.

A similar instance occurred to me when we moved from Charleston to Annapolis in 1981. Beth and I had campaigned our little J/24, Alliance, as a family project with our teenage children, JB and Margaret. When we got to Annapolis, we found some intense competition in the J/24 fleet there. More than 25 boats appeared from the creeks to do battle every weekend…and we weren't winning. I became more and more intense, in retrospect because I felt that my expertise as a mariner was being successfully challenged. Finally, Beth advised one day, "If you don't calm down, you're going to lose your crew—including me!" She was right of course. In examining the situation, I realized that I was performing my Navy job quite well, establishing the new position of Director of Navy Sailing. J/24 racing was a recreational sport, not my job. Through a conscious effort, I relaxed, bit my tongue quite often (still not often enough sometimes…), and we all enjoyed the seasons that followed. We also did better because of this new attitude. Our perspective of the world wasn't based on our finish order in weekend racing. That was something separate, previous and…irrelevant to real life.

Both these experiences illustrate the pitfalls of inappropriate behavior for our sport. This is supposed to be recreation for most of us, a respite from the daily grind of life, a place to commune with our aquatic heritage. Competition is part of that communion, as we try to wrest the most efficient time around the course from the forces of nature. All of us like to win, of course. But it's important for all of us, particularly those of your who compete in the hard-nosed games of business during the week, to keep in mind that behavior appropriate to that venue may not apply well to our sport. Corinthian sailing is more than winning; it involves participating in a special way. A primary ingredient in this formula is keeping things in perspective, remembering that sport is about recreation and fellowship, and that it is just as important to keep your competitors in the sport—in the fellowship—as it is for you to win. Fair play, graciousness and an assumption of good will on the part of all your competitors are part of Corinthian sailing, which itself is an element of a way of life now threatened by modern developments. Western civilization will be diminished if we allow that way of life to die, and we can do our little part in ensuring that sailboat racing continues to contribute to the sustenance of these values. Keeping all things in life in proper perspective is a habit we can all develop through our sport, with practice and discipline.

What's the Sport About?

June 1991

Incident to the name change issue [from USYRU to US SAILING], many of you included comments with your cards that came back. I was struck most by the comments of some that the only kind of sailing they did was racing. That caused me to really stop and think.

I thought I was a pretty avid racer. In our short season here in New England, I logged 50 days of competition last summer, and yet racing is only part of the sailing I do. If I had to give up the non-racing part of my sailing, it would greatly reduce my enjoyment of the sport. To me, sailing is a whole life experience. More than that, it is a way of life.

In the years when we were raising a family and moving every two years on less than munificent Navy pay, Beth and I were among the strongest advocates of boat ownership. We drove older cars; we made and finished our own furniture; Beth made her own clothes and many for the children; and I was a general handyman. All, in part, so we could afford to have a boat in which our whole family would participate. One of the aphorisms we derived was "a car is just a car—to get you from one place to another; a boat is a way of life." Our boats changed our lives, enriching us all in ways that nothing else could have done in those years, bringing us together as a family. The common experiences on the water made our family a solid, loving and mutually respectful unit. We wouldn't trade anything for those wonderful years; partly racing, partly cruising, partly daysailing—a whole way of life.

I remember many racing days, of course, but some of my clearest memories are non-racing scenes. We have a photograph on our kitchen wall that shows Margaret at age nine, standing in the cockpit of our old Coronado 25 with the family basset hound, Albert, while I, son John and a male friend of his at age 10 are in the water alongside. Margaret's hands are on her hips and she's clearly saying "Oh, you boys!" That excursion was about a mile from where we docked the boat across Narragansett Bay to a little cove where the anchor was dropped, the mainsail furled roughly and where we all went for a swim after work. I suppose the point of all this is to suggest gently and yet fervently that if all you're doing is racing, you're denying yourself some really wonderful golden days that are available to you. It may be no more than an afternoon sail with just the main up while you reestablish your ties with the quiet side of life, or a trip across the bay with some children for an afternoon swim and unstructured boisterousness. Or it may be a family picnic. Of course, it can also be a week-long cruise or a charter in the Caribbean. But whatever it is, part of sailing is relaxing, reestablishing those links with our maritime heritage that somehow renews us. I'd urge you to try to find time for this non-racing activity in the midst of your competition. You'll be a more fulfilled person, and you'll probably race more successfully as well.

Have a great summer!

Summer Thoughts

July/August 1992

By the time you read this, the Fourth of July holiday has just passed, the America's Cup is over, our Olympic team has been selected and is training intensely. In most parts of the country, this is sailing's "high season." I suspect that most of you are deeply involved in your racing series already. It's a good time to reflect again on what the sport means to each one of us.

One of the difficulties in life is that as we attain higher levels of competition, whether in business, academics or sport, the game gets increasingly serious. Frequently, it loses the component which is one of the most important elements in our lives—having fun.

Some years ago a book entitled The Peter Principle made quite a stir. Its philosophy has become part of our folklore (that people rise in organizations to the level of their incompetence and then don't go any farther). One of the great things about our sport is that we can enter in a level of competition in which our own incompetence will be demonstrated to us very quickly. It is a humbling experience, which most of encounter several times a year. We may find that we can dominate our club competition and comfortably sail around with our friends and neighbors while still scoring well. But when it comes to regional regattas or the big annual events which draw sailors like us from all over—the best of the locals—it's a different story. Suddenly this is very intense stuff.

To be sure, winning in good fleets is a special enjoyment. But losing in a good fleet also has a special flavor. Frankly, I know more of the latter than the former. As one who came to the sport as an adult, I'm not sure I'll ever be able to sail on a completely even footing with those of you who grew up in the sport, benefited from the great training programs and moved up through the collegiate system. But it's great fun to sail against the best. And there's a zen about sailboat racing when we can all enjoy.

There's no question that, for most of us, sailing against the best brings out in some the best efforts we can muster. In my case, sailing alongside the best makes me sail to the absolute limits of my ability—and occasionally beyond it. I seldom win prizes in these competitions, but I've sailed some very good races against those guys, sailing perhaps as well as I can. There's a real enjoyment in doing that. Doing the best you can do in anything, whether it's writing an essay, mowing a yard (God forbid!) or developing a budget…has a special joy all its own. Being the best you can be is more than a recruiting slogan, it's a pretty good definition of a fulfilled life.

Once at the Naval War College, former Secretary of State Dean Acheson was asked whether he enjoyed his career. He replied in a tangential way, noting that an ancient Greek definition of happiness was this: The pursuit of excellence in a life affording it scope. "My career afforded me that in great abundance," he replied.

I can tell you that sailboat racing affords us all plenty of scope for that pursuit. We seldom attain true excellence, but it's out there, waiting for us every day. And it is the pursuit of it that is really important. That's why again and again, we go to the starting line to do battle—not necessarily against our competitors, not necessarily so we can win, but so we can try to be our very best.

I hope you have a successful racing season. I know our crew will, regardless of where we finish or how much silver we take home.