The Liberty crew led by Dennis Conner and Tom Whidden (above, with John Marshall) sailed a magnificent series against a slippery and more nimble 12-Metre in Australia II but in the end Newport 1983 (left) was a summer to forget. Conner had wrung the neck of his ‘old-school’ Valentijn design, used multiple certificates to mode for the daily conditions, out-started and often out-sailed a faster rival to drag a lopsided match out to 3-3 and the penultimate leg of the final race. But they were back three years later and they smashed it
that was a blessing in disguise because it taught him the most important thing about sailing: how to make a boat go fast. ‘I was jealous of the kids who had newer boats, but I did well with the 213,’ Whidden says. ‘It’s OK not to have a good boat. It makes you try harder. Sailing is difficult at a young age unless you have some natural feeling for it. I think I had a natural feel for it.’
Whidden’s drive comes in part from his father, who was an original ‘Mad Man’, working on Madison Avenue for Dancer Fitzgerald Sample during the advertising boom of the late 1950s-early 1960s. ‘My dad was a hard driver. He had a brother who died at a young age so he was an only child,’ Whidden says. ‘I watched him com- mute every day on the New Haven rail- road. I think he instilled good values in me. ‘He was totally nuts about not telling a lie, high integrity, treat people like you want to be treated. I didn’t end up doing what I’ve done because of him, but I learned a lot of good things from him – being brutally honest, caring what people think of you, set an example for people around you, and treat them the way you’d want to be treated. My father and mother [Elizabeth] were good at that.’
Whidden says he wasn’t a good student but he had two sailing instructors along the way, Wilson Lineberg and Lee Demarest, who helped him realise that the
sport was something he enjoyed and was good at. Then, aged 16, he too was teach- ing sailing in Massachusetts when a man named Jack Fallon, who had strong ties to the Kennedys, invited him for a sail on the 12-Metre Nefertiti, which Ted Hood and Don McNamara sailed to victory in the 1962 Cup. Whidden was hooked. ‘I was thrown on the grinder handles with these big, strong guys and was so in over my head,’ Whidden says. ‘McNamara screamed at us all day long and Hood didn’t say a word. He was quiet, always looking at the sails, making little notes on the sails. And I thought, “This is so cool”.’ Whidden is from an era when sailing suits and helmets were not part of a sailor’s wardrobe. Cut-off jeans and T-shirts were more common on the sun- burned youths of the day. He is told of a recent quote from ice hockey great Wayne Gretzky, who’s lamenting the state of youth hockey. ‘When I was 10 years old they’d throw a puck on the ice and say “go score”. Now, at 10 years old, kids are told to stay in their lanes,’ Gretzky said in the New York Times recently. ‘I think the biggest thing we’ve lost is a little bit of our creativity and imagination.’
Whidden’s asked if he sees any parallels in sailing? Has the desire for safety made the sport less creative? Too controlling? ‘We know more about how to keep kids safe,’ Whidden says. ‘I’ve watched kids
race Optimists; my grandson, Thomas, has one. They tip over and get hit in the head with the boom. I couldn’t imagine sailing without a lifejacket now. As to the helmet, how’s that going to hurt? You can argue they look a little funny, maybe they do… ‘But I’ve known people who’ve been hit
in the head with the boom and been killed. I stood next to Manton Scott when he got electrocuted. I was right next to him. It was the most horrible thing I’ve seen in my life. [In 1973 Scott, a dinghy sailor, was killed when the mast of the 470 he was launching touched overhead power lines.] ‘To Gretzky’s comment,’ Whidden con- tinues, ‘I think the creativity is still there, but it’s dependent on the instructors and the programme. When I was a junior sailor I loved the sailing and the independence. I wanted to be like the instructors, it’s amaz- ing how much an instructor can inspire a young sailor. I watch my grandson and I’m shocked – and proud – at how well he sails an Oppi. Last year he was barely nine years old and he’s rocking the boat down- wind. But if the kids aren’t inspired they move into another sport – we need inspira- tion but safety isn’t a bad thing. ‘But Gretzky’s right; throw the puck on the ice and see if they can score. Sailing’s not much different; you throw the kid in the boat and hope he makes fewer mistakes than the other guy. You have to make fewer mistakes.’
SEAHORSE 29
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GILLES MARTIN-RAGET
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