By US Sailing President Tom Hubbell
Prepared For the Future
Prepared to gybe
I’m not sure just exactly how I managed to fall out of the boat. A Thistle on her side, spinnaker nicely woven through the standing rigging, it’s not pretty. We accepted help to retrieve vital gear and a DNF in that race at Thistle Midwinters East. In the debrief, we realized why we got to swim. I had called the gybe but did not allow time for us to prepare. To my team’s credit, we literally shook off the big negative and 30 minutes later had our best race of the week.
Prepared to support the sport
There’s another message in that story. US Sailing has had a few blown gybes in its history and it has had some great come-backs. Coming in as president and taking the helm of US Sailing, I did prepare and so did the team. I’ve witnessed four presidents up close. But, as much as one can learn about US Sailing, there seems always another layer of detail, another avenue of engagement, another deeply committed volunteer, and another area of expertise among the staff.
You should be confident in knowing that our current board of directors actively engages to steer the organization and the sport to take the lead at the top mark. We won’t be capsizing. The leadership is dedicated, prepared, and knows the sport. US Sailing is looking for teammates to be a part of the 21st Century growth of sailing. The sailing community needs all of us on board as supporters of our national sailing organization. Every sailor needs to hike-out to keep this boat on her lines and going fast.
