Paul Cayard
Paul Cayard Taking responsibility
Once again the Star Sailors League (SSL) Finals was the highlight of my racing year. Not because I did so well, I finished eighth, but because of being able to mix it up with all the great sailors of our sport, in such a physical contest. Among the 25 teams (50 sailors) there were 21 Olympic medallists, 45 world championship
titles, including five from Aarhus, Denmark 2018. Included in this fleet was the 2018 Rolex Sailor of the Year, Pavlos Kontides from Cyprus, who is the 2017 and 2018 Laser World Champion, and Brazil’s Robert Scheidt, one of only three people ever to win five Olympic sailing medals and a perennial on the podium at this event. Every year in November I think, ‘Oh god, what if I get last this
year? Maybe I shouldn’t go.’ That would not be so difficult in this fleet. There will come a day, not that far off, when I will not be racing in the SSL Finals and I will miss it. As long as I keep qualifying and as long as I am not last I will go and fight the next generation who represent the best in our sport. Because that is living! The adrenalin, the fatigue, the training; it is what I have known my whole life and makes me feel alive… and relatively young. 2018 was the year of Jorge Zarif. Jorge won both the Star World
Championship and the SSL Finals. What a year for the 26-year-old Finn Gold Cup winner and two-time Olympian. First, Jorge is a first- class human, friendly, humble, considerate and reliable. Second, he is an outstanding talent who has a huge future in our sport. At 190cm and 97kg, Jorge is a physical specimen of the kind
that is advantageous in the Star… especially when rule 42 is not enforced. Free pumping and rocking is tough all the time but in 8kt of wind… talk about getting to the gym! Fortunately, we had 12-15kt most of the regatta when free pumping makes more sense and is associated with surfing waves. Four races per day in Nassau conditions is not a soft day by anyone’s measure. ‘Jorgiño’ is his nickname because his father was Jorge Zarif too,
also a Star sailor who I raced against in the 1980s. Unfortunately, Jorge Sr passed away 10 years ago, at a very young age. In a heart- warming story Jorgiño’s crew at the 2018 World Championship, Guilherme de Almeida, got his start in sailing crewing for Jorge Sr at the age of 14, about the time Jorgiño was born. For them to win together was a great tribute to Jorgiño’s late father. Back at home in San Francisco, I took another step along the
road of responsibility as a director at the St Francis Yacht Club. After one year as chairman of finance (I renamed it Minister of the Loot), I have been elected chairman of the board. As a 43-year member, the club has supported me from when I was a junior Laser sailor, through my Olympic campaigns and two America’s Cup programmes. It is now time for me to give back a little. There is a lot to running a club of our size. We have 120 employ-
ees, serve 110,000 meals a year and have a turnover of $18million. We have union employees, a city lease and reside in one of the most expensive regions in the USA. Our product is camaraderie, events, cruising, regattas and family experiences… and we are very good at that. However, the world changes, customs, habits and tastes evolve
and a club also needs to evolve to maintain relevance to the demo- graphic that will support it over the next 30 years. All clubs need to pay attention to this, golf clubs, tennis clubs and sailing clubs. As such, we are always studying what the 25-40 year-old demo- graphic seeks in a club experience. There are plenty of examples in our city from swank to basic, expensive to economical. One big advantage St Francis Yacht Club has over any rival club,
hotel or restaurant, is location. What’s the saying: ‘location, location, location’. We also have a history of nautical prominence which provides a great base of attraction. We have an island up in the Delta that is great for families. We are financially strong thanks to a solid membership and conservative fiscal policy. We have a membership that is passionate about sailing and collaborative in the many committees that are required to make an entity of this size deliver the life experiences we all seek.
28 SEAHORSE Annually we host the Rolex Big Boat Series, the premier regatta
on the west coast of the USA. This February we also host the Rolex Yachtsman and Yachtswoman of the Year awards. It will be my honour to serve with the great men and women who fill the seats of the board of directors of the St Francis Yacht Club for 2019. As I write this I am on FL450 on my way to Punta Arenas. I will
be spending three weeks with my friend Joey Kaempfer onboard his Rosehearty in Antarctica. Antarctica has been on my bucket list ever since I first rounded Cape Horn in 1998. Captain David ‘Hutch’ Hutchison and guide Skip Novak have a great tour laid out for us. After knowing about the trip for over four months, I thought I was
all set to go. Then the day before I left I went to the REI store for a pair of serious hiking boots (already having the muck boots) and
SKIP NOVAK
VAN DER BORCH
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