Gary Jobson 368
On October 6 the 10 Olympic classes and three Paralympic classes begin their weeklong set of trials to determine who will represent the United States in China. Over the past couple Olympics, the U.S. has fielded a very experienced, mature team, but this time many of our sailors will likely be considerably younger, with several first time Olympians. I plan to visit each of the five venues, San Diego, Newport Harbor, Long Beach, Marina del Rey and Newport, R.I. filming for NBCOlympics.com and US Sailing. There are many tight battles and I’m sure it will come right down to the end. Our daily reports will be easy to find on the internet.
Paralympic Sailing
My next column in Sailing World will feature the outstanding performance of America’s Paralympic sailors at the World Championship last week in Rochester, N.Y. In the Sonar class, first place was taken by Rick Doerr, Tim Angle, and Bill Donahue and second place by Paul Callahan, Tom Brown, and Roger Cleworth. In the SKUD class finishing first was Karen Mitchell and crew JP Creignou followed by Nick Scandone and Maureen McKinnon in second place.
Annapolis Boat Show
Hundreds of boats and equipment companies will be arriving in my hometown, Annapolis, for the U.S. Sailboat Show scheduled to open Thursday, October 4. This event attracts over 30,000 people each year, and I look forward to seeing some new designs and innovative ideas at the show. I’ll be presenting a seminar on the America’s Cup, Outward Bound, and Grand Prix racing at a Cruising World seminar at the Marriott Hotel at 2:00 Thursday afternoon. Admission is free. If you are in the area I hope you’ll stop by.
Eastern Shore Cruise
My wife Janice and I had a nice sail from Annapolis to the Eastern Shore last week. I always enjoy impromptu cruising boat races. With the wind blowing 10 knots out of the southeast on a hazy day, we ended up behind a group of a dozen or so boats heading south. I watched with great interest as every boat with only two to four people aboard seemed intent on making their boats sail quickly.
It took five hours for us to sail 28 miles to Wye Island where we watched a nice sunset. The next morning the breeze was in at 20 knots for the sail home. A double reefed main and a partially rolled jib did the trick. We made it back in time to see the Washington Redskins lose to the New York Giants at FedEx Field.
