SAIL AWAY
8/29/2007 12:20:13 PM by Javier Salas
The sport of sailing seems to be evolving with every breeze-gust and wind burst. We track some of the people caught in the sport’s epicenter to see exactly what makes sailing so appealing to water enthusiasts looking for some adrenaline-packed action at sea.
The wind’s on your face, blowing your hair as efficiently as it fills the sail above you. Your competitors are close behind, but today Mother Nature is giving you the breezes you need to stay up in front of the fleet as your sailboat dances on the sea at a higher speed than the air current that powers you. This is sailing.
When one looks to the best locations to practice the sport, the general consensus is that Coronado, California, has some of the best sailing winds and regularly attracts notable sailors from around the globe. “The Olympic class 49er is sailing’s answer to an extreme sport,” says Zack Maxam of Coronado, whose goal is the 2008 Olympics, along with his partner, Dalton Bergman. “It can be a dangerous boat. There have been times when we’ve capsized in a race. If there’s a lot of sea action, there will be times you’ll trip over the waves. And if two boats are on opposite tacks going downwind, the closing speed can be close to 50 miles an hour.”
What makes the sport even more appealing is that it has practically no age restrictions. “There’s a balance to sailing between being young and athletic against the experience that comes with age,” says Maxam, who is in his late 20s. “There’s a lot of camaraderie, the same respect competitors in other extreme sports have. You’ve got enough to deal with without worrying about someone else running into you. I think the speeds of the boats have a lot to do with it. At the speeds we’re moving, we’re not inclined to take right-of-way questions to the last second. Guys will give one another room. And afterwards, we’ll all talk about it.”
Across the country, the adrenaline is pumping strong at the well-attended South Atlantic Intercollegiate Sailing Association (SAISA) events, which include 420, J-22, FJ and Radial class racing. “What I like most about sailing is competition and, of course, the great feeling of the wind on my face,” says Rebecca Thomas, who used to sail in New England but now teaches sailing in the year-round temperate weather and favorable winds of Tampa, Florida. “I sailed for Eckerd College and made it to nationals three years out of the three that I was on the team full-time. I was elected the head of SAISA women’s sailing organization for a year,” adds Thomas, who earned second place in the Women’s Rolex Match Regatta and is now qualified for the Rolex Osprey Cup this fall. “The key to success is camaraderie. I’m lucky enough to sail with a full boat of talented sailors. Our boat is a balance of great sailing and jokes. We can joke about everything and still manage to talk about what worked and how we can improve the moves we need to. As far as match racing is concerned, we still have a lot to learn, but learning is easy when it’s fun.”
Sailing catamarans have gotten in on the thrill with the Volvo Extreme 40 series. The largest fleet to date of Extreme 40s recently competed for the iShares Cup in the renowned Scandia Cowes Race Week, which takes place in the highly regarded waters off the Isle of Wight, UK. The Olympic medalists, round-the-world sailors and others offered up some exciting action on these cats which can achieve speeds of 35 knots on flat water in 20- to 25-knot winds, yet also move well in breezes as little as eight knots.
“It isn’t until you actually see the boats racing on the water that you really appreciate how exciting, innovative and competitive the iShares Cup is,” says Jennifer Grancio of iShares Europe. “The UK is a key market for iShares and it’s fitting that we are able to bring the Extreme 40 series to Cowes during Skandia Cowes Week. We are very proud of how sailing continually pushes the boundaries of technology.” The Volvo Extreme 40 races take place in some of the best waters on the planet for just about any type of sailing: Munich, Marseille, Amsterdam, Geneva and Lake Garda, Italy.
Another facet of extreme sailing takes on the form of Olympic-class Mistral Sailing, one of the most strenuous categories of sailing out there. There are strict rules about kinetics, how you can move your body to affect the sails. “In Mistral sailing, we use our bodies to pull the sail into the wind and create artificial wind, sort of like a rower moving an oar through the water,” says Peter Wells, who competed in the 2004 Athens Game as part of the U.S. Olympic Team. “That makes this sport especially physical. It’s 50 percent reading the wind and anticipating the way the wind is going to shift. The other half is trying to get the most speed out of your windsurfer.”
And the sport is just half of the experience. “We race in some exotic places around the world,” says Wells. “I’ve hit giant sea turtles at high speed and had my fin ripped out of the board. You get flying fish that come along and hit you in the ankle — some actually go through your leg if they hit you hard enough! You see sharks every once in a while if the waters are clear, but since you try to stay out of the water as much as possible, you don’t have to worry about the sharks too much.” At those kinds of speeds, it seems that Wells will have more to worry about than sharks if he ventures overboard.