Go East, Young Men, and Re-Educate Establishment on How to Sail Yachts

It is always nice to be able to remind The Eastern Establishment that there is a San Diego. Folks back east need to be occasionally reminded that there is life anywhere west of the Mississippi.

The Padres provided just such a reminder last fall, and reinforced their presence with five starters in the National League’s starting lineup Tuesday night. I haven’t heard too much lately about folks hereabouts eating quiche.

However, baseball is not my subject today. I am not interested in once again zinging those beleaguered masochists who dream that Rick Sutcliffe’s grandsons will someday bring a pennant to Wrigley Field.

The Cubbies’ fans are enthusiasts, but they are not snobs. How could they be?

I am talking about the real establishment, the self-appointed Eastern aristocracy. I am talking about people who have butlers and chauffeurs and live in a different home for every season.

I am talking about the most elite--to hear them tell it--of the yachting set. The old-line money enshrines itself in places such as the New York Yacht Club, Idlewild Yacht Club and Annapolis Yacht Club. The members are kingmakers, the kind of magnates politicians visit hat-in-hand when they aspire to reside in the White House.

“Among those three clubs,” said a friend from the East Coast, “you’ll encounter the snootiest people you’d ever want to talk to.”

These are people protective of their status. They lead and others follow. At a distance.

That is the way it is, or the way The Eastern Establishment perceives it should be.

Thus, it becomes particularly noteworthy when the U.S entry in one of the world’s most prestigious international yachting events is a clean sweep for California in general and San Diego in particular.

Beginning two weeks from today, three yachts will represent the United States in the Admiral’s Cup races off the southern coast of England. Each of those yachts will be skippered by a sailor from San Diego--Gary Weisman on High Roler, Lowell North on Sleeper and Paul Cayard on Sidewinder.

I imagine the folks at the NYYC looked through their lorgnettes and down their noses at such West Coast rabble and choked on their caviar. A Californian in the White House is tolerable, at best, but three Californians from that Navy town in the Admiral’s Cup races? Gasp. Will they know how to address the Queen?

“The Queen sometimes makes an appearance on the Royal Brittannia,” North said, “but I don’t think we’ll have to worry about shaking her hand.”

North is not greatly concerned with royal protocol. He built his yacht with the Admiral’s Cup races in mind. More precisely, he built Sleeper to win the Admiral’s Cup.

“As long as you’re going to be there anyway,” he said, “it’s more fun to win.”

The Admiral’s Cup competition is a team event, a multi-race regatta originating from the Isle of Wight. Between 15 and 20 countries are expected to be entered.

“Everyone on your team has to do well,” North said. “You can have one boat win the whole thing, but you can’t win the Admiral’s Cup if the others don’t do as well. You can lose the Cup if only one does poorly.”

North is hopeful Team San Diego will mesh in the English Channel to sail away with the Admiral’s Cup. North’s Sleeper is the only San Diego Yacht Club boat, but all three skippers work together at North Sails.

“In the past,” he said, “we’ve sent three boats that couldn’t care less how the others were doing. We’re making like a team this time. We have a team manager and a team meteorologist and we’ve had team meetings. We’ve had a good rivalry among the three of us, but we can help each other in an event like this.”

In a sense, The Spirit of San Diego will be at work. They probably wouldn’t know about that at the NYYC--or Chicago, for that matter.

And it is no accident that the three San Diego skippers should all be bound for the Admiral’s Cup races. Their position is not the product of political maneuvering or fortuitous good luck. They earned the top three positions in a series of Admiral’s Cup Trials off the coast of Rhode Island, right under the noses of the haughty Easterners.

In fact, San Diego skippers swept the top four positions in those trials. Dennis Conner came in fourth, mainly because he ran aground attempting a shortcut between some rocks and the shoreline. Conner was left out because of his neighbors and colleagues ahead of him.

I visited with North before he left for England because he was the only sailor who was not sailing at the time. Cayard was already in Europe for the One-Ton World Championships and Weisman was aboard Katmandu en route to Hawaii in the Transpac race.

North would leave early to scout the waters for his teammates. The Admiral’s Cup involves four short races, a cross-channel race and the 600-mile open-ocean race to Fastnet Rock. Each segment tests different capabilities and presents different challenges.

“This is one of the most prestigious races,” North said. “But England is a crummy place to race. It’s just one of those places you’ve got to go. Like Wimbledon.”

North probably would not be at home at Wimbledon either. I can’t see the man gingerly spooning his strawberries out of the cream. Give him a can of beer and skip the glass.

After all, he’s a San Diego guy. The sailing set better get used to the breed.