crew set out from the start of race three to show the fleet up. Paddling their way to the front, Melges reached the windward mark first, then stood up in his boat and shouted back, ‘You are all cheats and I’ve had enough.’ With that he retired from the race, packed up the boat and went home in disgust, highlighting not only the corrupt attitudes of so many within the fleet, but the shortcomings of the race committee and jury in allowing it all to happen. Some incredible stories have emerged during my time as an


international athlete. While we were facing what at best can be described as unsporting tactics on the Flying Dutchman course at Kingston during the 1976 Olympics in Canada, Boris Onischenko, the Ukrainian pentathlete, was swathing through the opposition in the fencing hall at Montreal. In his desire to go one better than the silver medal he had won at the Munich Games four years earlier, Onischenko bent the rules quite literally by using a crooked sword. Hidden in the handle of his épée was a switch that allowed him


to claim an electronic ‘hit’ even when he missed striking his oppo- nent. British fencing hopefuls Adrian Parker and Jim Fox, who were both felled by the ploy, were brave enough to report their doubts over the authenticity of Onischenko’s victories. The Russian’s weapon was examined, he was disqualified and Onischenko lived out the rest of his life exiled in Siberia – not, I suspect, because of his cheating but the fact that he had been caught doing so.


ON POLITICS IN SPORT Do politically inspired sporting boycotts have any effect? Who remem- bers the stand taken by the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden in boycotting the 1952 Games in Melbourne in protest at the Soviet invasion of Hungary? Who recalls Egypt, Lebanon and Iraq’s boycott at the same Olympics over the Suez crisis? Those protests were lost on everyone other than the national team members who were so badly affected that several devoted the rest of their lives to making sure their countries never made the same mistake again. I feel exactly the same about the Royal Yachting Association’s


ban on British sailors competing at the 1980 Olympic regatta in Tallinn in protest at Russia’s invasion of Afghanistan. I didn’t approve of this aggression, but have always believed it far more effective to attend an event than stay away, and make your feelings known during the competition. At the 1936 Olympics in Berlin black American athlete Jesse


Owens’ record four gold medals did more to crush Adolf Hitler’s populist myth about Aryan supremacy than any political stand or newspaper headline. In 1968 black American athlete Tommie Smith won the 200m


race in record time at the Mexico Games ahead of white Australian Peter Norman and fellow black American John Carlos. The three used their positions on the podium to protest against black dis- crimination, with Smith and Carlos displaying black power salutes during the US National Anthem. The coverage they received world- wide did far more to promote their grievances than any boycott. My own efforts to highlight the injustice of Russia’s invasion of


Afghanistan during the 1980 Cannes and Hyères pre-Olympic regat- tas also had an effect within the sailing world. My petition to draw to the attention of Russian crews that the rest of the world did not condone such aggressive behaviour left them shocked because such was the censorship of Russian news that none of them knew of the invasion nor the attitude of the west towards it. Three decades on, I still believe that this small protest did more to educate Russian sailors than the entire American boycott of the 1980 Moscow Games and the stand taken by the Royal Yachting Association in pulling the plug on Britain’s participation at the Olympic regatta. This mixing of politics and sport didn’t make a jot of difference


to Russian foreign policy, but had a huge effect on British Olympic yachting. A generation of sailors who had dedicated their lives to the dream of winning a medal, and spent many thousands of pounds trying to turn dreams to reality, suddenly found themselves sidelined without a voice. Many very talented sailors walked away totally disillusioned, never to return to five-ring sailing again. The Olympic Charter requires national federations to resist all


pressures of any kind, be they political, religious or economic. Boycotts have never worked in the past and we need to guard against politicians using sport as a weapon at future Games.


OLYMPIC FOLKLORE Testing in Poole before the 1972 Munich Olympics I began to have serious doubts about the new boat we had developed. In two-boat testing against the old Superdocious we were clearly slower and Chris [Davies, crew] was certain that from out on the wire the motion of the two boats over waves looked completely different, with the new boat less ready to lift up and plane. Boatbuilder Bob Hoare reluctantly admitted he still had the old


mould deep in his garden and he’d soon pressed his loyal lads to cold-mould a new hull between showers. It was ironic to watch fellow Olympic competitors pick up their new high-tech epoxy boats with no idea they were not as fast as Bob’s previous model. Trying to vacuum cure the new hull outside with heaters led to


distortions and that boat was never symmetrical. I also got Bob to replicate the repairs made to my second boat and swore everyone to secrecy. Even so the boat was completed in just three weeks. The reject was given a later hull number and a fresh coat of paint,


and Bob sold it as ‘slightly used’ at a bargain price to a Mexican customer who used it for club racing on a beautiful lake outside Guadalajara. [The asymmetric new FD took gold at the 1972 Olympic regatta with a race to spare – ed] Superdocious!by Rodney Pattisson with Barry Pickthall, is published by Bloomsbury Publishing


q SNAPSHOTS Brought to you in association with


l No sh*t…Sherlock l Varsity recruits…proposed by coaches will from now on undergo a separate background check by a Stanford Athletics executive l That Olympic…singlehander review in full l It really…isn’t so hard to figure out l Melges 14…D-Zero and RS Aero are clearly superior boats to the Laser l Of these…the Aero is the most popular internationally l The…answer is obvious l World…Sailing’s bureaucrats will choose the Finn (steady… ed) l With thanks…to Anarchist Tillerman l By the way… our own money’s on the Foiling Star l Lost… along the way? l It’s…a fourth Cong Cup win for permanently overlooked match racer Ian Williams l Back from…the nearly dead... l After… 18 of 30 starters dropped out of the 2008 Vendée Globe l This year’s…Fastnet sees 29 Imocas line up for the start l Pipped…however by the 30 boats that have already qualified for the TJV in November l Really…the Golden Globe Race offers big bang for the buck! l Tail End Charlie…Tapio Lehtinen hopes to finish his lap by June l He…‘hopes to’ l All that flak…taken by Oracle for leaving the Yanks ashore l When…Charlie Barr skippered Reliance in the Cup his crew of 51 included 44 Norwegians l So give…the Ellison a break, bitches l Top trumps…to youngster Trevor son-of-Dobbs who in April competed in his first ever 470 race sailing with Trevor Bornath l Which was also…the first race of the Genoa World Cup regatta l Gutsy…no? l And…former 470-er and Seahorse contributor (pg59) Umberto Felci is back in training for the 470 World Masters! l Benjy…where art thou? l Family…business... l Bravo…to Patrice Carpentier’s nephew Antoine who won the second leg of the Class40 Défi Atlantique l Groundhog day… l Stunning…Team GBR’s results at the 2019 Princesa Sofia l Eight…medals including two golds l While…Burling and Tuke finished only seventh on their return to the 49ers (having gone unbeaten between 2012 and 2016) l Jeez…ed l Lookin’ fast…at RaceboatsOnly.com l On the pace…at eurosailnews.com


SEAHORSE 19


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