I don’t go to church. Or rather, I do not attend church on a regular basis, as a parishioner. In fact, while thinking about this column, I tried to count the number of times I had been into a church, as distinct from going to church. I got to about ten times. This count does not include four months in Italy after the 1982 Sardinia Cup, but that’s Italy; more like ten a week. My parents were…
We left off chatting with Kate as she was getting into the thick of the 2013 “Big Cat” America’s Cup in San Francisco. (Part 1 of this interview can be found at windcheckmagazine.com/article/women-on-the-water-kate-somers/). Coop: Ah, typical boat biz, On the job training, eh? Kate: Yup, crash course central in marketing and communications, especially at that very high level. It was quite an experience. I finished my Master’s out there, in the middle of the AC. I told…
Thirteen-year-old Wilson Meunier Mott is a rising eighth grader at Monsignor Clark School in Wakefield, RI. For his class service project, he had a corker of an idea: Sailing from New London to Stonington, CT in his Opti, solo, to raise funds for the New England Science & Sailing Foundation’s Fund a Student Scholarship Challenge, so that New London school kids can get time at NESS. I spoke with Wilson not long after he arrived at the…
It’s not often you run into two guys in their early twenties who have already racked up some serious performance credentials in the sharp-elbowed world of professional offshore solo sailing. German sailors Lennart Burke and Melwin Fink are two such characters. I spoke with them at Safe Harbor Newport Shipyard during the Newport stop of The Atlantic Cup. Coop: Guys, congratulations on your third-place finish in Leg 1. You must be pretty happy with that……
I spend a decent amount of time working at the Cruising Club of America’s Safety at Sea Seminars. If you have done one, a hands-on one, you will know there is an awful lot of “stuff” thrown at you in eight hours. In the wider sense, it’s unrealistic for folks to hoist everything aboard. Like I tell the new kids joining the Prout Sailing team, after I’ve been pontificating for an hour early in the season, “If…
Kate Somers (widely known as Wilson before marrying Brandon Somers) is a lifelong sailor and has morphed sailing and her interest in technology into her own media and web design firm in Rhode Island called risingT. Coop: Kate, thanks for jamming this into the midst of your work for the Newport Bermuda Race. Kate: (Flat out like a lizard drinking sigh) Sure, no problem. Thanks. Coop: Where are you from, and was sailing a “thing” in your…
I have not told anyone about the theme of this month’s essay, nor have I asked if it’s OK to write on the subject. I have thought about one or the other or both for about a week. All the while, each afternoon we gather to sail, watching, mostly, the smiles and good cheer returning. For most, not all, for some still show the pain they carry. I’m fortunate in that I have a lifetime of hiding…
The Complete Guide for Dinghy and Yacht Racers By Mason Stang and Udi Gal Adlard Coles, an imprint of Bloomsbury 304 pages Flexiback $35 Review by Joe Cooper The literature of sailing is well supplied with books intended to further the goals of the aspiring racing sailor, or even in some cases, the expert. Mainly they are by the usual suspects: Melges, Jobson, The Daves (Perry and Dellenbaugh), Elvstrom, and even Manfred Curry. The Sail Racing Bible…
I usually have a decent idea of what I want to talk about here, a couple weeks before putting bytes to silicon. This month’s column was intended to be on the memories we get from our sailing. This is, after all, the biggest and most important takeaway from our sailing adventures. But then there was Pen Duick losing a hand overboard nano-seconds after starting the last leg of the Ocean Global Race, aka Whitbread Redux. This was…
This month I’m diverging from the usual Women on the Water story line. There’s a young woman on The Prout School Sailing Team, Madeline (Maddie) Ammatuna, known almost universally as Tuna. I discovered an interesting dichotomy between Tuna and her Mum, Kate Ammatuna. Tuna loves sailing and Kate does not. Interestingly, both attitudes stem from early experiences. I recently sat with them after practice. Coop: Ladies, thanks for staying after school as it were. Both: (Chuckles) We’re…
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