Excuses, Excuses-Redux

I wasn't planning on doing the St. Petersburg NOOD this year. I wanted to do it, but hadn't gotten off my lazy rear and contacted friends who would know boat owners in the Tampa-St. Petersburg are or made any cold calls to find a boat that needed crew. I, ever the optimist, always figure that I can find a ride on a boat because there is a shortage of labor to make these boats go if I male the effort.

Dave Trude, the webdawg himself, posted a message a few weeks before the NOOD. He said that he needed crew for the disabled team that he is building. I responded, thinking that I would be one of hundreds and would never actually have my offer accepted. I was flattered when Dave emailed me and said to pack my gear and come sailing. I thought he had picked me out of hundreds of anarchists who had volunteered to help his campaign by doing bow for the dawg. That wasn't the case. I was the only anarchist who responded. That fact surprised me. With all the sailing going on in Florida, why didn't any anarchists respond? Good thing I have a healthy ego and was able to make the trip.

I then started looking for airfare and was surprised that some of the airlines are very proud of their services. The cheapest were $350.00, non-refundable and non-changeable tickets. Ebay came to the rescue. I purchased some free drink tickets that could only be used on Southwest Airlines and the seller was kind enough to through in a rapid rewards voucher for a free round trip anywhere in the US so I could use those free drink tickets. What nice people you meet on the internet! Dave had a house to stay at and told me he would have someone at the airport to pick me up.

I worked Thursday and caught the 4:30pm flight out of Houston's Hobby airport and arrived at Tampa International airport at around 9:30pm. You really begin to appreciate your cell phone when you arrive at an airport that you have never been to and need to contact your ride, whom you have never met and who you are depending on to get you to the place you are staying and in contact with the skipper of the boat you'll be sailing on. Dave had called and let me know that Larry, a guy in a white Intrepid with one leg and on crutches would be in charge of getting me to St. Petersburg proper. The pick up was perfect. I walked off the plane, called Larry, who was waiting out front, picked up my bags and we headed off to St. Petersburg.

Larry was staying with us. He is an ex restaurateur and businessman. Larry got into sailing after he lost his leg to cancer and he now sails on John Ross' sailing team. They were one of the better disabled teams and did well in the regatta. We made it to the house on 12th Ave, met one of the crew (and the boat owner), Dr. Gib Wright, who had driven the Sonar across the United States to the Sonar Mid-winters and the NOOD and dropped off my gear. Larry and I went to the St. Pete Yacht Club to find Dave and the other disabled sailor who would be sailing with us. I met Dave and Mark, we had a few beers with Larry and then we retired to prepare for Friday.

I won't give a detailed blow by blow account of the racing as everyone who has raced sailboats knows how it goes. Suffice it to say that we did not get shirts and Dave didn't get the nice NOOD luggage that the winning skippers get. We also had to withdraw from Race three on Saturday because Mark started to exhibit signs of hypothermia (it was chilly, wet and blowing 20-25 knots). I had a hell of a lot of fun sailing with these guys. I also learned that its not very different than sailing with able-bodied crew. The key factors are communication and working within people's abilities and working around their disabilities. I also saw that some of the disabled sailors have the same attitude problems that I see on many able-bodied boats.

The boat that we sailed on was adapted to accommodate the crew's disabilities. Mark, who did the jib, some of the kite trim and mid-deck used a piece of wood as a bench to slide across the boat in the tacks and gibes. Dave used a purpose built bench to get from side to side and had some special hand holds tied to the toe rail so he could stabilize himself as he drove and the boat heeled. I never thought about how useful my legs are for moving about a boat and hauling lines and sails in. Mark and Dave do not have the use of their lower bodies. They have to brace themselves against boat movement with one hand while pulling sheets and halyards with the other. That doubles or triples the effort they have to exert to do the job that I do without thinking about. It also means that they have a hard time getting up to the weather rail after the tack is completed and the boat is heeling over. Moving about the boat takes pre-planning and good timing, otherwise someone will be stuck to leeward. Sound familiar? Been there and done that myself. The same thing happens to able bodied crew, but the the consequences of being stuck to leeward for an able-bodied crew are easily remedied. If Dave or Mark got caught on the leeward side, it took longer to get to the high side. The tack consisted of Mark, sliding to leeward and then pulling the headsail across. The plan was to get it in before it loaded up and started to heel the boat. When he didn't get it in, the boat would heel and Mark would have to brace himself with one hand and attempt to sheet in the fully loaded jib with the other. Obviously this caused problems as Mark's pulling on the loaded sheet tended to pull his upper body into the bottom of the boat. Mark needed a better hand-hold system and bench system. Dave would slide across and flip the tiller up over his body as he crossed and turned around. Dave never blew a tack or a jibe. He did catch the tiller extension in a pocket once and damned near jibed the boat on one run. I can't complain becaue I have done that on my laser a few times and went swimming. On a few of the other boats, the adaptive equipment that allowed the quadriplegics to drive was incredible. It ranged from high tech seats that tacked side to side to non-tacking chairs. Those guys had to drive from the same side at all times. On Saturday, the wind was blowing around 20 knots. These Sonars were taking waves over the bow and the leeward rail was buried. These men and women were down there in it, in the spray and under the water sometimes. It was impressive to see some of these teams ahead of the able-bodied teams in the fleet. I was impressed by the level of sailing that these guys were displaying. They beat the able-bodied teams on a regular basis.

The boats that I normally sail on require the same adaptive behavior to a lesser extent. Putting four or more people on a boat for hours at a time requires everyone to adapt their behavior to the surrounding environment. Crew have differing abilities and skills. The skipper and each member of the crew must recognize each other's abilities and disabilities and work around them with good communication and planning. Not to different from sailing on a disabled team. Its all about the utilization of the available resources. I would rather sail with Dave, Mark and Gib than many people that I have picked up off the docks when I was short of able bodied crew.

Like many crews that I normally sail with, everybody has an opinion about where the fastest path to the weather mark lies. My experience has also been that on many boats that I have sailed on, one of the crew didn't understand that the skipper, right or wrong, has the final decision on which way we are going and when the decision is made, you sail the boat as fast as possible in that direction. Dave, knew where he wanted to go and the type of starts that he was comfortable with and, right or wrong, Dave was funding the trip and was driving the boat. We went the correct direction, left, sometimes and sometimes we didn't. We started at the correct place on the line in the front row sometimes and sometimes we started on the wrong end and second row. The dissention from the crew affected the boat's performance. When the skipper asks why the crew is insisting on going left and the crew can't come up with a logical reason for going left, they should not get upset when the skipper doesn't go that way. Crew can also lose sight of the big picture. Mark lost sight of the big picture, got frustrated and stopped trying. Mark is a good sailor, but has not learned the lessons that I have learned the hard way about crewing. When the skipper says we go one way, that's the way we go. If you don't like it, you need to be able to communicate why you don't like that decision in an effective manner that logically explains why your way is better. Then, accept the skipper's decision and work on making the boat go fast. If someone is using the wrong technique and the skipper suggests a solution, then you utilize the technique that works on that boat. Its not personal, its simply utilizing the available resources in the most efficient manner possible. Mark seemed to take it personal when Dave wanted Gib to help pull in the jib when it was blowing 20 knots. This was frustrating for Dave, Gib and myself. The chemistry simply was not there yet.

Some of the disabled teams have been sailing together for years. This showed in their performance and preparation. Many of these teams were sailing boats that they owned and that had been adapted by them. The top Canadian disabled team had a boat builder as their coach and chief designer. The boat builder helped adapt the boat for their particular disabilities by designing special adaptive equipment and building it. This is what great funding can do for the team. The team that Larry had been sailing on JR's team for over a year and it showed in their performance. Mark and Dave had been sailing together for around two to three weeks and that showed. We finished ahead of many able bodied teams and behind many of the disabled teams. Time on the water in the Sonar was another factor. The boat, like every boat, has specific trim techniques that make it fast in different wind conditions and it took time to figure those out. Dave was sailing Alpha, an older Sonar owned by Gib Wright. Dave hadn't had a lot of time in the boat either. It was my first time sailing a Sonar. Luckily, Dave is one hell of a driver and Mark and Gib were good spinnaker trimmers. This allowed me to handle the bow without any drama when it was blowing 20+ knots and we were flying the kite.

Another issue that arises that is unique to disabled teams is the amount of ground support that they need to go to a regatta. Able-bodied teams simply head to the dry storage, drop the mast, tie it down, hook up the trailer and hit the road. Hard work, but not insurmountable when you are shorthanded. The disabled teams require a lot more labor and help just to get to the regatta. They have to have someone unstep the mast and de-rig the boat. Then, once the boat is at the regatta location, they need another able-bodied person to step the mast and re-rig the boat and get it in the water. Then, reverse this process to get the boat home. This doesn't include the daily needs of a disabled crew. These crews may need help getting into and out of the boat and rigging the boats. At the St. Pete NOOD, there were people around who volunteered when needed and helped these guys. However, if you are campaigning, you have to be able to bring an able-bodied person along to help with these tasks. Able-bodied crews can stay anywhere. Disabled crews have special needs that are not always available in every house or hotel. This further increases the costs of the campaign.

Dave decided to not sail on Sunday for several reasons. Dave checked the forecast and saw that it predicted 20 knots and building on Sunday. Gib wanted to leave for California Monday morning. Sailing Sunday was not going to dramatically improve our place in the regatta and it would delay Gib's ability to get on the road. Mark called and told Dave that he spent the night in the hospital for hypothermia and would not able to sail Sunday. Dave had help lined up to un-step the mast and prepare the boat for travel. I was able to sail Sunday's races on "Radio Flyer", a Tripp 26 owned by Dennis Hannick, Susan and Nate (sorry guys, I am terrible with names). I was a stability technician for Sunday and it was nice to be able to look around and watch what was going on across the race course.

These guys where very gracious to take me aboard. They showed me a good time and Susan even fed me cookies and beer. Not just any cookies, but some of my favorite cookies, Pepperidge Farm Bordeaux cookies. These guys on "Radio Flyer" are really a class act. They even provided Miller Genuine Draft! Of course, there may have been ulterior motives as they wanted me to be at max weight so I would provide the maximum stability for the boat. We had some really tight racing with the other Tripp 26, J-80s and SR-25. Each of the three races that we sailed on Sunday had close finishes and in one race, the SR-25 beat us by a foot at most (that's my story and I am sticking to it). The "Radio Flyer" crew, Dennis, Susan, Nate, Bob, Lisa and Melissa are a group that appeared to have been sailing together for many years. I base this on the level of communication and coordination that I observed. Everyone communicated on the boat and that made it easy for me to integrate into their routine. Hopefully I didn't mess them up too much.

If you can't tell by reading this, I am still stoked at getting to sail with Dave, Gib and Mark and the "Radio Flyer" team. I really enjoyed the St. Pete NOOD and would sail with Dave or Dennis' group anytime, anyplace. They are great people and damned good sailors. Dave needs donations to put a team together and mount a campaign. Dave has the basic skills and the ability to develop the skills to the level that he will need to achieve his goals. We need to step up and help make that goal a reality. Right now Dave needs sponsors. Sr. Chief, and others, are working to make this goal a reality.

Sean Cody

02/22/2002