East Winds Leave Western Sailors Adrift
By Rich Roberts
(As Printed in THE LOG)

Did we miss it? Did the Big One finally whack off California at the San Andreas Fault and set us adrift to become the next Survivor island?

Why else would we be left forlorn and forgotten by US Sailing, with only one of 18 annual adult and youth national sailing championships scheduled for the West Coast this year and next?

And who, for the love of W, voted to award Florida six of the seven sites for U.S. Olympic Trials---and the other one to Texas? Is it too late for a recount?

Has it been forgotten that three of the USA's four Olympic sailing medals at Sydney were won by men and women from this side of the country?

It's enough to give Western sailors a Rodney Dangerfield complex.

West Coast sailors have complained for years about an Eastern slant, real or imagined, in US Sailing policies. Hey, we'll match ours against theirs any day.

Weren't six of the last seven Rolex Yachtsmen of the Year California-grown? Weren't a San Francisco guy and gal---John Kostecki and Liz Baylis---the latest Rolex winners? Haven't San Francisco natives---Kostecki and Paul Cayard---led the last two winning Whitbread/Volvo campaigns? Didn't a California boat---Roy Disney's Pyewacket---run the table in the Caribbean and Great Lakes last year? Didn't we give the world Brad Van Liew?

And this just in: three California high schools---Pt. Loma, University of San Diego and Newport Harbor---just finished 1-2-4 in the doublehanded nationals in New Hampshire (details in Racing Roundup). Sailing World magazine's on-line Grand Prix Sailor included this Easterly spin:

"As impressive a performance as this was by the West Coast schools, it was actually a notch below what they'd done the previous four years, when they claimed first through fourth in the 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2002 Mallory Regattas."

Gosh, are we slipping?

Itching for answers, we went right to the top: David Rosekrans, president of US Sailing.

"We have a policy of rotating the championships around the country as much as possible," Rosekrans replied by e-mail. "Locations chosen for championships depend on bids received as well as the desire to move them around. When there are no bids in an area for some time we do go out and seek bids from potential host clubs."

So what's the problem? Do West Coast clubs have "no soliciting" signs up?

Only one of 11 adult nationals is scheduled in the Pacific Time zone this
year: the U.S. Team Racing Championship for the Hinman Trophy at San Francisco Aug. 22-24. None of the seven youth nationals is farther west than Tulsa, Okla.

Rosekrans: "The system is to move each championship around, not try for a given number in an area in any year. A number of championships are held on the West Coast. There were at least four every year in the last three years. In 2000 there were six.

"Having fewer [nationals] on the West Coast in a given year or two in no way portrays a direction in which the organization is heading. Looking ahead, there will be at least one national championship on the West Coast in 2004."

That's a given---the U.S. Offshore Championship that alternates between Long Beach and Annapolis---but the youth schedule continues exclusively easterly.

Be patient, Rosekrans advises, with the promise of "at least four [nationals] in California alone in 2005."

That would include two youth events to be hosted by Newport Harbor YC and another by Del Rey YC.

"Not all are assigned yet for 2004 and 2005, so there may be more," Rosekrans said. "We are currently accepting bids for events."

Is he saying, all we need to do is ask?

"Sailing organizations . . . can look at the schedule at www.ussailing.org/championships/PlanningCal.asp" Rosekrans said. "If they are interested in bidding, the link to the host club bid package is www.ussailing.org/championships/HostClubBidPac.pdf."

The Olympic Trials are a different issue. Jan Harley, who works in that area, said, "Generally, the Olympic Sailing Committee looked for places that would provide the variety of conditions the competitors can expect to encounter at the Games in Athens, which would include smooth water and ocean conditions."

Does it matter? Do the Olympic venues ever match the Trials sites?

"No," said San Diego's Mark Reynolds, who has sailed the last four in a Star boat, winning two gold medals and a silver.

"It's a good goal to try to match 'em, but it’s hard to do. [In 1988] they had the Trials for Korea in San Diego because Korea was supposed to be light, but it blew really hard. It would have been better to train under the Golden Gate Bridge."

Other sites also have missed the mark. Now the thinking must be that Florida's sailing conditions are more like Athens' than anyplace out this way.

For 2000, San Francisco Bay must have looked a lot like Sydney Harbour. Five classes trailed there, another in nearby Santa Cruz. But the other five classes went to Florida.

Forget conditions. Reynolds said the site sometimes simply goes to someone who steps up with a decent venue and a proposal that won't cost the Olympic Committee much money, which is always in short supply.

Hal Haenel, who sailed with Reynolds for gold in '88 and silver in '92, said, "It's better to get an all-round sailor who is good in all conditions. Then you'll have your best representative."

Reynolds agreed, with a surprise twist. "For the Stars, doing it in Miami [for 2004] is probably pretty good," he said, "because that does have offshore and onshore conditions."

Harley said logistics are another consideration. "The ability to ship boats in for the Trials and then out to events in Europe [is] also a significant factor, not to mention the dollar cost and time cost involved. Obviously, more of both would be required to ship to Europe from the West Coast, which would have meant that the Trials winners might have missed some important events in Europe that would factor heavily in their prep for the Games.

"This is not an East vs. West issue. It is more than likely that the majority of the Trials for 2008 will take place on the West Coast with those Games planned for China."

Hm. There's a perfect place out in the Mojave Desert: China Lake.