Once
in a great while you meet a Gentleman that makes
you proud of the sport we're involved in.
Several years ago, while preparing for my first
Congressional Cup, I was asked to do an interview
with Rich. From the first moment I met him, I knew
he wasn't the average reporter, he actually knew
something about sailing. As a matter of fact he
knows a lot about sailing.
The other day, I met with Rich at Schooner or
Later to interview him for Yachtracing.com and realized that
12 years had passed since I first met him and at least 250 regattas
had raced by. You will find Rich's name as a regular writer
for the Log in California and frequently in the Los Angeles
Times for his YachtRacing articles.
He also writes for Santana, Sail, Sailing, Sailing
World, Yachting and Seahorse to name a few. He's covered everything
from Dinghies in the Olympics to Michael Faye's Monstrosity
in the America's Cup.
Writing and Journalism have been in his blood
from childhood being that his family ran the Wilmington Press
Journal. One might say he has "Ink in His Veins" to
borrow his expression. His first real writing came as a young
man in the Banning High School's Portlight. Right away he got
a job at the San Pedro News Pilot and then as a Sports Columnist
for the Press Telegram for 15 years. While doing an Interview
at the Long Beach, Ca boatshow of a then famous Single Handed
Sailor; he fell in love with a cute little West Wight Potter,
(named for the Isle of Wight) sailboat and his sailing career
began at the young age of 40.
In 1978 Rich moved over to the Los
Angeles Times to cover sports and found out he was
the only sailor. When a sailing event was to be
covered, Rich was the man they sent. One of his
first big race assignments was the Congressional
Cup out of the Long Beach Yacht Club. Sailing Champion
Dick Deaver of North Sails fame, asked Rich out
for a practice day and allowed Rich to bring his
tape recorder. When it was all said and done, Dick
Deaver told Rich that the story was one of the best
things that ever happened for sailboat racing or
as we like to call it: "YachtRacing."
Rich remarked that in all his years covering the
sport he had always called it Sailboat Racing because
these weren't yachts that he was reporting on. Oh
Well, Some Antics. I mean semantics.
Read
our interview with Rich
