In a painful foretaste of how John Bertrand lost ‘his’ gold medal in Los Angeles in 1984 (above), the 1978 Finn Gold Cup winner had lost his subsequent 1979 Cup defence in England when on port tack he failed to clear Kiwi Peter Lester in race 3, ending up second overall to a similarly brilliant US Laser talent in 21-year-old Cam Lewis. After a superb US squad were then denied their 1980 gold medals by the USA Olympic boycott, Bertrand returned to the Finn in ’84 when he won a hard-fought selection battle with fellow St Francis YC sailor Russ Silvestri (a tussle that ended up in court). Seen training (left) for the 1984 Olympic regatta, Bertrand on port this time would fail to clear Russell Coutts in race 1 and never recovered, eventually taking silver behind the promising young Kiwi…
was so mentally locked into sailing at home in breeze and current that I completely for- got there are places in the world where I might have to adjust to light-air windshifts and slop. I finished dead last. In the after- math Bill gently pointed to things I myself had said in the past. I started connecting the dots, and that marked the beginning of something for both of us. SH: You were winning Laser regattas while you were still in high school, and you won the North Americans in 1975, at 19. But you say you went to the ’76 Worlds in Kiel with low expectations. Why was that? JB: I had sailed the first Laser Worlds in Bermuda and finished 36th. I stuck on that as my reference point. SH:Having cut your teeth in the big breeze of SF Bay you might have expected that to play well at Kiel. JB: I had no preconception of Kiel. One part of me is a puppy who wakes up in the morn- ing, and whatever is in front of me is what’s happening. I also had it from Tom Black- aller – around St Francis Yacht Club, Tom was mentor to anybody who was coming on, if you were lucky enough to get his time – and he told me to forget a lot of what I knew if I was going to race in Europe. On San Francisco Bay the breeze devel-
ops in the middle of the day and builds into the afternoon. In Europe it could be windy in the morning, dead in the afternoon.
There is different meteorology. So I got to Kiel and the racing was outside the bay, breezy, with big waves. That felt good. I was starting well. I was quick upwind. Quick downwind. In that sense it was easy, almost as easy as saying it. At the end they gave out the awards in a little cafeteria with picnic benches, and I was there in my jeans, mentally prepared for just another awards ceremony and the commodore handed me the trophy… and everyone stood up. They applauded. I looked at the room. I was shocked. They were still applauding. I really had won – the Worlds. Coming home, absorbing what had just
happened, there was a certain baffled corner of my mind that was actually disappointed. Confused? I thought winners were godlike, and that wasn’t me. But if I could win the Worlds knowing I had so much more to develop, there was a wow factor in there somewhere. When I conveyed as much to Bill he didn’t hesitate. He asked, ‘Do you want to see what it would take to become a master sailor?’ I didn’t hesitate, either. Bill asked what I would need to work
on, and I said fitness. Bill suggested ballet. He believes that dancers are the greatest athletes in the world. I got that, but my mindset about ballet made me queasy, so I went for his alternative, gymnastics. That was easier to relate to, but just a few classes made it clear that I was on my way
to getting injured, big time. Then I walked into the ballet academy and saw all the girls and realised this just might work. I was outside my comfort zone and way outside the box – a life lesson about not limiting myself to common practice. SH: At that point you crossed a line. You were out of high school, and Bill was more than just a sounding board. JB: We had a meeting, and Bill made a decision for me. The Finn Class had boats positioned all around the country, and they were pitching me to get into the Finn. Those boats were there for me, to put me on the glory road to the 1980 Olympics. That was a tantalising proposition. It was flattering. Bill said no, and it was a relief to have someone make that decision for me. Bill said stay in the Laser and work on the elements we understand, so we can measure the benefits of what we do. SH: And how did that translate into a course of action? JB: I took ballet classes every week… as many as 12 per week, in fact. I ran a solid 12 miles every day. I hit the weight room three times a week. The fitness focus was a real thing – not forgetting what fitness did for Elvstrøm – and I sailed, but never more than three days a week, never more than an hour and a half, and almost always alone, racing against a phantom sailor who was as fast as I was, or faster. When I won the
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