West Coast Racers Are Upset at Proposal

A scheme proposed to prop up the United States Yacht Racing Union’s troubled finances is making waves on the West Coast.

Val Hollingsworth, who runs an advertising business in Maine, writes in the current issue of USYRU’s American Sailor magazine that yacht clubs should require their racing members to join USYRU, whose dues are $40 a year. The requirement would include crews, as well as owners and skippers, of everything from maxi boats to sabots.

Not only that, but the clubs should, according to Hollingsworth:

--”Bill the racing members for their USYRU dues annually with club dues.

--”Collect the money and send it to USYRU.”

If Hollingsworth’s plan is to destroy small boat racing, he’s on the right track. Many weekend dinghy sailors don’t pay that much in yacht club dues.

Most of the big boat racers already belong to USYRU, but even some of them would rebel at mandatory membership--as it would be as if being told they had to vote Republican. They regard the Newport, R.I.,-based USYRU as a stuffy Eastern establishment organization that fails to relate to the side of the country that sails year-round. Worse, the proposal comes in the wake of a recent USYRU mailing requesting mid-year renewals for 1990 from its 22,000 members, without offering incentives but, it is explained, to make its year-end bookkeeping easier.

Generally, racing sailors don’t resent the requirement of belonging to a yacht club. They need a club affiliation to establish a rating for handicap events, and they need a club’s resources to organize and stage events. But many don’t think they need USYRU.

Others recognize the good things the organization does, such as providing a successful Olympic program, a rules appeals process, judging for major events and a long list of national championships--even though most of those are held east of the Great Lakes.

Tom Leweck, former commodore of the California Yacht Club and a veteran ocean racer, acknowledged: “USYRU probably deserves more financial support. A lot of people enjoying the sport probably aren’t contributing what they should. But I think forcing people to join something is inappropriate and would create an adverse reaction to an organization that is helping sailing a lot.”

Chuck Kober of Long Beach, a former USYRU president, suggested discounting regatta entry fees for USYRU members as an incentive to join, and added: “The people who use the services have to pay their fair share. If it’s optional, a lot of people just won’t pay.”

But, mandatory membership?

“It’s a bad idea,” said Tom Ehman, who was executive director of USYRU through the 1984 Olympics.

While awaiting the America’s Cup decision from the Appellate Division of the New York Supreme Court, Ehman has pursued another of his aims: to throw Olympic sailing open to professionals, who have already been accepted in other Olympic sports.

He will be in London next month when the subject is addressed by the International Yacht Racing Union, from which USYRU and the International Olympic Committee will take their lead on the issue.

USYRU has been wrestling with the problem for the last few years without managing a takedown. The best it has done is to establish a trust fund system in which sailors such as Randy Smyth and John Kolius may deposit their winnings to protect their amateur status, then withdraw “expenses.”

The fifth quadrennial Whitbread Round the World Race will start Saturday, Sept. 2 from England, with about two dozen entries.

The 32,932-nautical mile race is to ocean racing what the America’s Cup is to buoy racing, but it has never created much interest in the U.S., probably because it has never touched a North American port, and an American boat has never won it.

Past winners have been boats from England in 1974 and ‘78, Holland in ’82 and Switzerland in ’86. For the first time the race, which takes about nine months, will mark one of its six legs in the U.S. Competitors will reach Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., in late April and start the last leg for England on May 5.

It appears there will be only one American entry, a nine-woman crew skippered by Nance Frank of Annapolis, Md. Ted Allison of Seattle had hoped to race a Santa Cruz 70, but is still short of money. In fact, Frank reportedly has only enough funds for the first leg to Punta del Este, Uruguay.

Sailing Notes

The Newport Ocean Sailing Assn., best known for running the Ensenada Race, will conduct one of its other three events Sept. 9-10. The 32nd NOSA Argosy overnight race will be from Newport Beach to Cabrillo Beach and return . . . The 12th annual Lido Boat Show is scheduled at Newport Beach Sept. 7-10 for used boats, Sept. 13-17 for power and sail . . . The Boat Owners Assn. of the United States has published a national pamphlet guide to towing companies for non-emergency sea service, available free by writing BOAT/U.S. Towing Guide, 880 S. Pickett St., Alexandria VA 22304. The Southern California contact is TAB Marine, which operates the Billy M and monitors VHF Channel 16. The phone number is (619) 225-9255 . . . The U.S. Coast Guard has issued a consumer fact sheet reminding boaters that it is illegal to dump any type or quantity of plastic--including Styrofoam, straws, fishing line and so-called bio-degradables--anywhere in the marine environment. Maximum penalties are a $25,000 civil fine or $50,000 criminal fine.