Above left: classic Dave Perry ‘teaching at the board’. In 1978 (opposite) within a year of graduating from Yale Perry was starting what would be a 40+ year coaching career – and, as with his UK counterpart and old friend Jim Saltonstall, the lifelong respect shown by Perry’s fanbase of one-time young champions-to-be became the stuff of sailing legend. Friends in high places (left)… Perry is middleman in a glittering Soling crew with Paul Elvstrøm and with Jud Smith – he of 10 world titles – on bow. Top: the only racing book you’ll ever need
passionate folks got weeded out by all that responsibility, Dave pushes back with what he sees as one of today’s biggest challenges. ‘If a coach takes care of all the organising then kids never learn to take that responsibility. The downside of a coach is when the coach starts thinking for the kid, and the kid stops thinking.’ Shouldering so much responsibility had
still to this day he’s a little better… He’s won the America’s Cup. I’ve got five match racing championships, he’s only got three! But we’re best friends. Any time you see a good sailor you’ll find they grew up with another good sailor very nearby. It’s really hard to get good in a vacuum.’ For college Dave chose Yale for its
music programme: ‘Sailing wasn’t even on my radar,’ he says. But the summer before his first year he bought a Laser (one of only two boats he’s actually owned). ‘695 bucks, brand new out of the box! Number 931.’ He chuckles. ‘It was amazing.’ When he arrived on campus and spotted
a 420 with its sail up (part of a sailing club exhibit to tempt incoming Yalies) he stopped for a chat. ‘Dead music just blast- ing, a keg of beer. I’m like, ah, cool sail- boat. I know about sailing. Totally casual. Next thing you know I’m sailing with the team! Today the Yale team’s recruited…’ The following spring USYRU (now US
Sailing) invited 150 American kids to a regatta in Lasers, the first ever US Youth Champs (thought up by ‘some guy’ named Bob Johnstone). They brought in coaches, including ‘Buddy Melges and Dave Ullman
and Dick Tillman and Peter Barrett, and on and on. There was a clinic each day; it was just mind blowing! And the Laser was so cool.’ Dave pauses for emphasis. ‘The combi-
nation of the Laser and the Youth Champs turned me around,’ he insists. ‘I wouldn’t be in this sport if it weren’t for those two things, I’m sure of it. I’ve thanked Bob J so many times…’ (Again, his memories focus on learning and camaraderie, not results.) Back at college, sailing involved much
more than just showing up for practice; YCYC was a totally student-run club. ‘We did our own budgeting. We had a very sup- portive alumni group and they raised money to buy the fleet, but it was up to us to sort the docks, fix the engines, fix the boats.’ That ‘we’ included classmates Peter Isler,
Steve Benjamin and Stan Honey. ‘I always say about Stan: we went to the same school but we were never in the same classes!’ Dave laughs. ‘It was a kid operation, and I think that’s one reason so many of our generation are still involved. Having that responsibility made you more passionate about it… and maybe more capable.’ When I suggest the reverse, that the less
its own downside, though: burnout. Most New England collegiate regattas are in Boston, a two-hour drive from YCYC. ‘Now they tell me that the kids do home- work on Saturday night in their hotel. Yeah.’ Dave snorts. ‘First of all, we never stayed in a hotel. I can’t even tell you where I stayed most of the time. And second of all, we were definitely not doing homework on Saturday night!’ Trying to keep up with both sailing and schoolwork, he fell behind. ‘So by the end of my junior year I was
exhausted. We won the 1975 Nationals, and I was euphoric… but I just didn’t have anything left in the tank. I couldn’t even think about going back to school in three months.’ Instead, he took a year off; ‘Nobody really made it in four years back then.’ But in those pre-database days, he kept all of his Yale IDs. ‘I ate at the dining hall, went to the gym.’ He also practised with the sailing team, lived at YCYC and attended many campus events and semi- nars. ‘It was the best year of college, the year I didn’t go to school!’ Dave graduated in 1977 with a major in
organisational behaviour. ‘I have this sort of organisational brain that tries to make sense of stuff, so it was perfect for me. My
SEAHORSE 51
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122
