OUR HEARTS GO OUT... Aug 31, 16:38
...to the people, especially our many sailing friends, living on the Gulf Coast in the USA. With everything else going on here in Malmoe, we were also keeping an eye on Hurricane Katrina, on the internet and CNN, and with updates from our team meteorologist Chris Bedford. We breathed a sigh of relief when the forecasters downgraded the severity of Katrina as it approached landfall, New Orleans was spared a direkt hit, and when the early reports of the feared flooding were not so bad.
But then the levees let loose, and Katrina has exacted a heavy toll after all, which today grows worse by the hour.
The video clip in Scuttlebutt last night of the beautiful old Southern Yacht Club being consumed by flames, and the pictures we see on the internet of the tens of thousands of boats up and down the Gulf Coast thrown helter-skelter, hither and yon, are stark reminders of the power of the wind and sea which we humbly attempt to tame while racing for the America's Cup.
SYC is the second oldest yacht club in the USA. It was established in 1849, two years before that famous race around the Isle of Wight which gave us the Cup we are still pursuing with such passion 154 years later. SYC's clubhouse may be destroyed, but no doubt the prestigious and storied Club will survive even this challenge, same as the Cup has all these years.
For some reason, I am reminded of the speech given by President Kennedy, in September, 1962 at Newport, RI on the eve of the 18th America's Cup between the Australian challenger Gretel and the defender Weatherly:
"I really don't know why it is that all of us are so committed to the sea, except I think it is because in addition to the fact that the sea changes and the light changes, and ships change, it is because we all came from the sea. And it is an interesting biological fact that all of us have, in our veins the exact same percentage of salt in our blood that exists in the ocean, and, therefore, we have salt in our blood, in our sweat, in our tears. We are tied to the ocean. And when we go back to the sea, whether it is to sail or to watch it we are going back from whence we came...."
And when we do go back to the sea, as we will again Friday here in Malmoe, may it always be with the deepest respect for Mother Nature. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.
But then the levees let loose, and Katrina has exacted a heavy toll after all, which today grows worse by the hour.
The video clip in Scuttlebutt last night of the beautiful old Southern Yacht Club being consumed by flames, and the pictures we see on the internet of the tens of thousands of boats up and down the Gulf Coast thrown helter-skelter, hither and yon, are stark reminders of the power of the wind and sea which we humbly attempt to tame while racing for the America's Cup.
SYC is the second oldest yacht club in the USA. It was established in 1849, two years before that famous race around the Isle of Wight which gave us the Cup we are still pursuing with such passion 154 years later. SYC's clubhouse may be destroyed, but no doubt the prestigious and storied Club will survive even this challenge, same as the Cup has all these years.
For some reason, I am reminded of the speech given by President Kennedy, in September, 1962 at Newport, RI on the eve of the 18th America's Cup between the Australian challenger Gretel and the defender Weatherly:
"I really don't know why it is that all of us are so committed to the sea, except I think it is because in addition to the fact that the sea changes and the light changes, and ships change, it is because we all came from the sea. And it is an interesting biological fact that all of us have, in our veins the exact same percentage of salt in our blood that exists in the ocean, and, therefore, we have salt in our blood, in our sweat, in our tears. We are tied to the ocean. And when we go back to the sea, whether it is to sail or to watch it we are going back from whence we came...."
And when we do go back to the sea, as we will again Friday here in Malmoe, may it always be with the deepest respect for Mother Nature. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.
Commentary | by TFE
