It's AC time again. Yeah, babe-bee! Whew!
For the sailboat racer it's like the NCAA Tournament. Well, without those sporty headbands and cartoons on the biceps. Brackets and stats. Seeding. Wow!
In the next couple of months we're actually gonna see sailboat racing on television. Imagine.
This is one of those years when sailors get their fifteen minutes of fame. So what if it's on the Curling Nosehair Channel. Who cares? At least it's something. And if the ratings jump off the floor and show a pulse, fog a mirror, who knows? It could lead to greater things. Rolex TP 55 Championships, Farr 40 Worlds… Come on, it could happen.

Why, surely with the plethora of crap that spews out of the five hundred channels of cable TV, there must be some bone-headed producers out there somewhere that would be willing to take a chance on yacht racing. Golf has it's own freakin' channel, for Pete's sake!
Unfortunately, the only coverage sailing seems to get is the blurry footage of some knucklehead stranded 500 miles off Peru in his Dishwasher 44. The guy's family talking to him on a sat phone. The neighbor telling CNN what a good sailor he is. Yeah, fine.
I don't mean to be a prick here (I just can't help myself) but you kind of asked for it, dude. And, you're makin' the rest of us look like a bunch of whack-jobs. Thanks a lot!

No, it's really only during an AC year that the sailing community gets just a little bit of respect and air time. Anyone who can sit through the monotone coverage to witness a tacking duel between a couple of behemoths approaching the top mark, can't help but marvel at the effort, the power, the beauty of man and machine locked in combat. Massive blades hacking away at the pristine skies. There is strength and grace in the sport that must be savored to be appreciated. It's a game with too many layers to be appreciated on the ESPN highlight reels.

Nevertheless, it is an event that the general public can't help but take notice of. Now, I don't really give a rip about Ellison or Berterelli, or how well hung their bank accounts are, for that matter. I don't need to contemplate what drives them to spend such a ridiculous amount of money on boat racing. Which, by the way, will probably be the subject of half the dialog throughout the event. It's ego, man! My billion dollar campaign is gonna kick your billion dollar campaign's ass! Neener, neener, neener! You don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure that one out. They got it - they spend it, on sailboats! Why not?

But if Ellison were to actually win The Cup races, would he bring it back to the US where few seem to give a crap about sailboat racing? He might instead choose to buy his own country somewhere along the north coast of the Mediterranean Sea, where people actually follow the sport, sponsors endorse it, and yacht racers are treated like rock stars. Shoot, the EU might even let him do it, just to keep the Auld Mug close to their loins.

Besides, does America really care about the America's Cup? American sailors are gonna have to do their bit for the cause here, and for the Neilsen Ratings (for those non-Americans, Neilsen puts together the room full of idiots who decide what we like to see). Turn your box to the AC races and tape them, TiVo them, or hell, just sit on the edge of your coffee table in your stinky boat shoes with a couple of warm beers (you may need to make that coffee, depending on conditions) and watch 'em. Invite some non-sailor friends over to watch the races with you. If you get them drunk enough, they might even understand what's going on.
You know we really need to lure some new blood into the sport. Somebody to spin that winch while you scream in their ear. Somebody who actually believes you know what the hell you are doing out there. Somebody to plant their butt on the weather rail with that shit-eating gobstopper look on his face. After all, it's obvious that the time has come. Take a look around the docks. Whadda ya see? A lot of gray hair, that's what. Yeah, grandpa. That's what I'm talkin' about.

So here's our chance to hoist the profile of the sailboat racer in the US. With a little effort, yacht racing could raise it's visibility to something more on the order of say, girl's softball. Well, we can dream. Can't we?

Wendell Liljedahl

01/31/07