Remember also Churchill’s alleged quip: ‘Americans can always


be trusted to do the right thing, once all other possibilities have been exhausted.’ The present debacle between US Sailing and America - One Racing over support for US Olympic sailors smacks of this inherent inefficiency of our political culture. This story is not an easy one to follow, as there are other entities


involved, such as the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC), which acts as the quasi-governmental entity that lies between the IOC (and its funding coffers) and its appointed national governing body (NGB), which for sailing is US Sailing. USOPC has its standards and bylaws to urge NGBs to follow, along with ensuring compliance with the Ted Stevens Olympic and Amateur Sports Act, a US law first enacted in 1978 and revised in 1998 to provide legal protection for individual athletes along with other eligibility policies that are developed and enforced by the NGB. The last few decades have shown a relative lack of US athletes


on Olympic sailing podiums compared to the last century. Efforts to improve the team, being more or less co-ordinated and directed by US Sailing, have generated only very patchy results and a lot of frus- tration among both athletes and donors. Lack of funding has often been used as an excuse, with some nations enjoying governmental support or lottery funding that is simply not an option in the US. Yet this excuse seems thin when considering the US has the


world’s highest concentration of wealth and charitable giving among any region on the planet, and many wealthy donors have generously supported US Olympic efforts in sailing throughout this period. So the problem might be structural, and Paul Cayard, a proven performer and with support from the AmericaOne Foundation, was hired by US Sailing in March 2021 to oversee its Olympic programme after having, voluntarily, helped create Project Pinnacle, an initiative to improve US Olympic level sailing leading up to the 2028 Olympiad in LA. US Sailing had a similar programme to develop young talent called


the Olympic Development Program (ODP) which provided coaching services for promising young sailors with aspirations of being trained in Olympic class platforms. The underpinning of the ODP was an AmericaOne initiative called Project Pipeline. In 2014 AmericaOne made a $5M commitment to fund Project Pipeline. According to a lengthy report made by USOPC on this matter,


friction started in late 2021 when some athletes on the US squad expressed their concerns to the US Sailing Board of Directors about poor management of the team in issues related to communication about expectations, funding and team selections. The team asked for a debrief after the Tokyo Games, but did not receive one until February 2022. They alleged the Olympic Operations staff were ‘dis- missive of athlete concerns relating to the team’s performance’. Cayard was asked to hire a Director of Operations to address


these concerns, and hired an ODP coach who apparently was good at coaching but not good at operations. Allegedly Cayard and members of the Operations staff were also questioning the impor- tance of ‘athlete voice’ and ‘at times was reluctant to engage in town halls with athletes, questioned the presence of Athlete Rep- resentatives on USSA’s Board, and resisted efforts to share details around the Olympic Operations high-performance program’, according to the USOPC report. There were also some complaints over Paul’s style of leadership, which chafed some to think they’d be retaliated against if they complained, but left others unbothered. AmericaOne disputes much of the USOPC report. Another matter troubled Cayard and US Sailing Board member


Bill Ruh, who was also an active fundraiser for the team: in the autumn of 2022 US Sailing adopted a new shared services model for budget allocation that required additional funds to be reallocated from the Olympic Operations budget to US Sailing’s overall operating costs. Cayard and Ruh felt the value of the services provided was not commensurate with the newly increased fees being charged. They regarded these fees as an inappropriate tax placed on the funds they raised for Olympic Operations and strongly objected in writing to the US Sailing Board. In dealing with the objections of Cayard and Ruh, the US Sailing


Board decided in February 2023 to restructure Cayard’s role to one of fundraising only. Paul, an outstanding fundraiser, said he would not ask donors for money without input for how it was spent. Given this ultimatum, with no opportunity given for discussion he resigned.


The USOPC report describes how US Sailing was left in ‘significant


turmoil,’ ‘financial upheaval’ and ‘public disparagement’, alleging both Paul and Ruh bad-mouthed US Sailing, an Athlete Representative on the Board, and ‘lobbied specific donors to withhold funds’ from US Sailing. They mention John Kilroy specifically in this allegation. All this said, the USOPC also reported US Sailing ‘did little to


refute Cayard’s and Ruh’s statements to community members and the press regarding departure or to clarify the reason for his depar- ture’. Indeed, in the USOPC’s review of the available evidence it appeared that USSA identified ‘athlete concerns as the primary driver of the USSA Board’s decision to restructure Cayard’s role in the first place’, and yet this was not ‘the sole –or even primary – responsible party for raising concerns’. The USOPC report says that US Sailing had ‘no formal procedures


for handling athlete concerns, and that the absence of procedures for reporting concerns made an Athlete Representative the unwitting face of the [Board’s] decision to restructure Cayard’s role’. US Sailing say in one of their statements that ‘We don’t intend


to litigate our case in the media. As the certified National Governing Body for sailing, with the responsibility to maintain the integrity of the sport and protect athletes, we were unfortunately compelled to bring this lawsuit now as a necessary means to halt AmericaOne’s wrongdoing, which continues to harm athletes and US Sailing.’ But there seems to be an obvious disconnect between statements


like this and ‘US Sailing is grateful for the incredible passion that exists in the sailing community and the generous support of our partners who share the vision for developing high-performance sailors’… meanwhile, they are suing the most generous partner they have ever had: more than $6M in funding has been provided to US Sailing through AmericaOne in the past 15 years! AmericaOne says that over the past six months alone they have


contributed $1.5M in the form of direct financial support; 648 days of on-the-water coaching from world-class coaches; physical fitness and conditioning guidance; funding for a weather study for the Marseille Olympic venue; performance planning for 22 athletes; physical therapists for athletes at various events; and direct support at 45 events, camps, clinics, regattas and world championships; and provided an $81,000 Special Trials Grant to 30 athletes to help them with costs incurred for competing in the Olympic Trials. AmericaOne has also provided detailed reports of their activities


in a gesture of transparency rarely seen from US Sailing. Imperious statements from governing bodies claiming sole author-


ity get us Americans reaching for our pitchforks – or, worse yet, closing our chequebooks. Remember, unlike many other sailing countries there is no legal requirement in the US for sailors to belong to the NGB or an affiliated club to go racing. Only sailors, coaches or race officials participating in US Sailing championships, or big boat owners wanting to have ORC, IRC or ORR certificates issued by the rating office must be members. The last US Sailing president who suggested mandatory membership (at the time a princely sum of $35/year) over a decade ago was very nearly tarred and feathered. Amid this sad situation a well-respected and productive senior


coach for the YDP, AmericaOne and numerous private clients (sorry, but no one wants to be quoted in this piece, given the political sensitivity) has said there may be a bright side to all this tumult: it will force a new organisational approach entirely. For example, he says the philosophy of racing as a squad is gaining traction among the US athletes, who are forgiven for being sceptical of this having spent years and years toughing it out on their own. This is how other successful programmes around the world work.


As Churchill has said, it’s time the Americans realise this is the right way too. Funding is not the issue: Americans are happy to join clubs and organisations, and even donate to them generously when our interests and emotions align, but credible leadership and value must be shown. It’s time to let the NGB do its job of admin support and race management in the Trials, and entities like AmericaOne, Oakcliff and the US 470 squad (also based in Oyster Bay) take on the coach- ing, training and even fundraising efforts to support the athletes. Ignoring this and making imperious pronouncements will just get


the same reaction as an ‘imperious’ King George III did just over 250 years ago. Dobbs Davis


q SEAHORSE 29


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