Rob Weiland
It gets no easier
In his 1961 novel Catch-22 Joseph Heller describes absurd bureaucratic constraints on soldiers in World War II and via the character Doc Daneeka, an army psychiatrist, he intro- duces the term Catch-22 for paradoxical situa- tions from which an individual cannot escape because of contradictory rules. Like a pilot who
by requesting mental evaluation for insanity, hoping to be found not sane enough to fly, simply by making the request demonstrates his sanity and thus will not be declared insane. Catch-22 is a term that is hard to translate to other languages,
just as the term Corinthian as used in Corinthian sailing or Corinthian yacht racing. ‘You mean the intention is not to win?’ I heard an owner once say. He was on the right track yet far off – not to win at all costs would have been closer. Certainly also including cost in the literal sense. Corinthian is often translated and limited to amateur, as in
amateur yacht racing. I do not think whether one gets paid or not, or whether one pays crew or not, completely catches the term Corinthian but certainly to engage in competition purely for pleasure and honour is an essential element when defining Corinthian sport. The terms gentleman’s sport and Corinthian sport have much
in common, they are often used in combination with each other, but I feel a difference is that a professional can be a gentleman in his profession but not a Corinthian. If we define a gentleman as a person for whom how the game is played is more important than winning, some might not agree with me on this one. Essential is that the game’s players behave in the spirit of their competition and that they display a good level of moral and social integrity as well as camaraderie both on and off the pitch.
32 SEAHORSE Many sports are considered to be gentleman’s sport. Each
person’s lists vary but for sure sailing is on all of them, just like golf, tennis and cricket. Looking around in big boat sailing, quite a few class and event rules refer to terms as Corinthian and gentleman’s spirit. This is somewhat in contrast with trying to be as explicit as possible in our Notices of Race, Sailing Instructions and Racing Rules and often results in an interesting mix of choices as well as in debate and friction. I read in the International Maxi Association bylaws: ‘The
encouragement of amateur yacht racing, organisation of Corinthian sailing, match races, regattas and competitions for the sailing yachts of the categories indicated in class rules’. And in the J-Class rules: ‘The racing will be competitive, but Corinthian oriented.’ And reading on a little further: ‘The rules are written in the proper gentle - man’s spirit, not to be bypassed to gain advantage which is not in the spirit of the class.’ The Superyacht Racing Association recently introduced a
Corinthian Spirit Class but also at the other end of the size range we see Corinthian initiatives, like a Corinthian Division in the hot Melges 24 racing scene. In reality maxi and superyacht sailing is only possible with at
least a substantial core of professional crew. And not much of the maxi sailing that takes place at the upper end of the length range is based on owner-driver rules. Where the International Maxi Association (IMA) promote owner-driving in their events and have a set of standard rules to guide their fleets and classes, this premise is generally ignored in superyacht racing. The highly competitive J-Class has no owner-driver restrictions
and we see a mix of owner and pro-driven boats. Very much as in TP52 class racing. The main argument often heard for this centres
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