Gary Jobson writes in the May 1999 issue of Sailing World that the America's Cup needs a Commissioner. He goes on to list about 8 other ideas to save the Cup. Things like a one boat limit, no instruments, limit support crew, limit salaries and on and on. You should read the article.

Now, Gary Jobson is more sailor than I'll ever be. After all I'm just a Beer Can Racer, Gary Jobson has been a coach at Annapolis Naval Academy and sailed in and won all kinds of major regattas. And Gary is a better writer than I am. I'm just an aging computer jockey. So, maybe I should just believe in him, but I can't. This time, Gary, you've lost your focus. You've forgotten what the America's Cup means to the sport.

I remember when the Australians won the America's Cup. Television coverage couldn't be found. Just a brief, very brief, clip after the Football scores. The Internet didn't exist and the newspapers were less than satisfying. Since then the America's Cup has become big news. When Dennis went to Australia there were hours and hours of coverage. I stayed up late night after night to watch ESPN. I threw tantrums every time ESPN preempted sailing for some other sport. This was great, sailing on TV. Then came the PBS and TLC sailing shows, travel logs and how to's. The controversies, Dennis, espionage, Alan Bond, all this intrigue made it to the six o'clock news. Sailing had arrived. Then came San Diego. Michael Fay's big boat challenge, Dennis' catamaran response, the court battles. All this added to the general interest in sailing. Gary seems to think that this distracts from the sailing, I think all this stuff adds to the event.

Then there is the technology. Gary wants to limit the engineering effort. This is definitely a bad idea. Look at the boats built in the sixties. Look at the boats being built today. The difference is revolutionary and many of the improvements in speed and safety came from engineering ideas first applied at an America's Cup event. No Gary, we don't want to change that. In fact, we don't want to change anything. It would be nice to have an America's Cup every two years, but really it takes longer than that to put it all together. Nope, I can't see changing a thing. It's big, it's bad and sometimes ugly, but always wonderful.

The Challenge: Gary, in his article, spends a great deal of energy comparing the America's Cup to the Olympics and seeking an international event that features the sailors over the technology. That, Gary, is a different event altogether and a great idea. So why not start one. You can do it right in your back yard. Your success in bringing the Whitbread to the Chesapeake Bay proved that this is a great place to sail and the turnout in Baltimore and Annapolis proved that it is economically feasible. Now that Volvo has announced that it will return to the Chesapeake (like there was any doubt) I'll bet you could find the necessary support from sponsors and sailors alike. Go for it, you have my support and if you decide to do it in J/27's I might even lend Mad Max to the event.

Mike Madden