A Spring Sail in San Diego

For most members of the San Diego yachting community, sailing is an escape. A weekend on the water provides a chance to get away from the office and the cares of the business world.

Not so for Vince Brun, who views his job as a sail-maker as therapy, a distraction from the pressures of competitive sailing.

“If I concentrated on sailing too much, I’d burn out,” said Brun, 39, who lives and works in Point Loma. “I can’t spend as much time on the water as Dennis Conner. I don’t know how he does it.”

It would be a mistake, however, to infer that Brun is anything other than a highly-motivated seaman. He happens to be a world-class sailor with designs on winning an Olympic gold medal next year in the Star class.

Brun and his crew, Hugo Schreiner, are the defending world champions and the favorites in the Star Spring Championship of the western hemisphere here this week. A field of more than 50 will compete in the event, hosted by the San Diego Yacht Club.

Among the competitors are three Olympic gold medalists--Bill Buchan, Steve Erickson and Carl Buchan--plus four America’s Cup sailors--Steve Erickson, Paul Cayard, John MacCausland and Ken Keefe.

A spectator fleet will line the three-mile course for the six days of competition, which started Sunday and concludes Friday.

Some of sailing’s biggest names, including Conner, have been Star class skippers.

But Brun said he is not thinking beyond the Olympics.

“To win an Olympic medal is the goal for Hugo and me,” he said. “It’s unrealistic right now to think too far ahead.

“For Dennis to win the America’s Cup was fantastic, and I wish, maybe, I could do something like that someday. But I have a family and a job to think about. The 12-meter (competition) is a lot more complicated than Star class--more people and more money are involved. In Star class, I do my own racing and pay my own expenses.”

Brun grew up in Rio de Janiero, where his father worked as a metallurgist.

His first sailboat was, to use his phrase, an “oddball boat.” Built by his father in the garage, it was little more than a rowboat rigged with a sail cut by his mother.

Brun and his brother, soon became competitive sailors.

After completing work on an engineering degree in Brazil, he moved to the United States In the late 1970s and went to work as a designer of sails.

He later started his own sail-making business in Point Loma, which now employs 12 and provides both income and a break from the pressures of sailing.

Brun looks at sail-making as a mix of art and science.

“To make a faster sail is so complicated,” he said. “You have to consider the stretch of the material, the bend of the mast and many other factors.

“I try to develop four or five new sails a year, and each one requires me to spend at least eight days on the water, testing. Some of them are garbage, but usually we come out with a good design.”

If his business continues to expand, he plans to spend less time designing and more time running the operation, Brun said.

“When I’m on the water, I take sailing very seriously, but I can’t keep on sailing forever without a break,” he said. “After three or four days, I like to stop and regroup. I need to get organized and think about what I want to accomplish the next time I go out.”

In Star class, there is no well-heeled group of backers, such as Sail America, to provide the type of funding and inspiration enjoyed by Conner in the America’s Cup.

For Brun and Schreiner the inspiration comes from within.

The two have known each other six years and have sailed together half that time.

Their partnership is subject to many of the stresses that beset a marriage.

“In a regatta, we’re around each other 24 hours a day,” Brun said. “We room together, eat together and sail together. If there’s anything you don’t like about somebody, it’s very hard to be on the same boat.

“When we learned to handle ourselves and live with each other, it was a big step. Now, I think we have an advantage over some of our competition.”

Only in the past year has their relationship really jelled.

“Hugo is very stubborn, like me,” Brun said. “We are very quick to make decisions. We used to blame each other for mistakes, but now we have learned to balance it out and work around our problems. We have the same goal--to win.”

Their relationship improved when Schreiner’s construction business became more profitable, freeing him from financial pressure. With Brun’s sail-making company doing well, they were able to concentrate on sailing.

“We do more sailing than anyone I know in Star class,” Brun said. “There’s not a weekend when we’re not racing or sailing.”

If he has any designs on becoming the San Diego Yacht Club’s next America’s Cup representative, Brun is not saying.

“I don’t feel any pressure from anyone here,” he said. “The only pressure comes from inside me. I think people like me the way I am. I was welcome here before I started to do well.”