Onboard Mighty Mary: Observations of a token male

When I first heard the idea, I'm sure I was as shocked as anyone. Bill Koch called me at home late one night and said that he and some of the women were talking about the possibility of adding a man to the America3 Women's Team. With a chuckle, he asked me to guess who they were thinking about. It was early March, a week before the start of the Defender semifinals, and right then I had a feeling it would be a very interesting spring.

As far as I know, the idea of putting a man on board had never been considered before that point. After all, the 1995 America3 campaign was an all-women's effort from its inception. But when the team finally started racing in the Defense Trials, two things happened. First, they won a few races, which surprised not only many outsiders but some of the crew as well. The women started to believe what they had been saying for eight months ­p; that they had a chance to win the America's Cup. At the same time, however, they saw the strength of their competitors and realized that winning the Trials would be very difficult.

In fact, time was running out on a team that started with much less experience than its competitors. Their new boat, Mighty Mary, looked good, but wasn't going to give the women as much of an advantage as everyone hoped. To have a realistic chance, some of the sailors and the management team felt they needed more America's Cup experience to boost their game, and their confidence, a notch. Their choice to fill this void was definitely not a man. But unfortunately, for all the reasons why it was so important to have a women's team in the first place, no women have had a chance to get that kind of experience. That's how I got involved.

I had been active as a coach and advisor for the team since the early days when the idea was still a secret. But I never expected to sail on the boat. The day after Bill Koch called me, after talking with my wife for half the night, I called him back and said "Thanks, but I'd rather not." I did say I felt honored to be considered as the tactician, that I would love to sail in the Cup again, and that I was a team player. But the prospect of suddenly moving to San Diego for two months didn't seem like the best thing for my family nor my business. More importantly, I was not convinced it was the right move for the Women's Team. The bottom line, I told Bill, is that I wouldn't even consider the idea unless I was convinced the women wanted it.

From the beginning, I had been one of the strongest supporters of the all-women's concept. I felt, and still feel, that sailing is a sport where women can compete successfully with men at the top level. But in order to do this, they must have equal access to experience, and that hasn't happened since the beginning of time. So, in my opinion, the America3 Women's Team was one great step in the right direction. But if we put a man onboard, what would happen? What would sailors think?

What would women think? How would our sponsors react? And how would the crew feel about it?

None of these questions had easy answers, and we spent six days considering all the options. One alternative to including me as tactician was adding an experienced sail trimmer. This would have helped because the women had limited big boat racing time, and one of their weak points was the ability to shift gears to keep the boat going fast. One option we never considered was adding anyone in a strength position. That was not a problem: In fact, during the press conference after I joined the team, Bill Koch joked that I was weaker than everyone on the crew (actually, I could bench press more weight than about 1/3 of the team!).

Finally, the night before the first race of the semifinals, I sat in the office of America3 president Vincent Moeyersoms with Bill and four women sailors who had been involved in the discussions. We agreed that an afterguard person would probably have the biggest effect on the boat's performance. Then Bill turned to the women and asked the bottom-line question: "Do you want David on board as tactician?" Slowly, thoughtfully and one-by-one, they each answered, "Yes." They also said they believed most of the other sailors would support the idea. I took a deep breath.

That night I didn't sleep more than a couple hours. I knew that putting a man on board would be controversial, but I also believed the whole idea of America3 was to empower women in sailing. If the women decided that what they needed was a man with more experience, who was to say they couldn't make that choice? Certainly not me.

When we arrived at workout the next morning, Bill explained to the rest of the team what was happening. Almost everyone was surprised, of course, and I know at least several women had strong reservations about parting with the all-women concept. This was completely understandable to me, since I still had some of the same feelings myself. But over the next few days, the sailors supported the idea (and me) more than I ever expected. It was as if they were ready to make a change; as if they were evolving from a team of women who were happy to be part of an historic Cup first to a team of sailors who saw that winning was a real possibility.

Unfortunately, my coming on board meant that someone would have to get off, and that someone was JJ Isler. I know this was tough for JJ, since she had been a key member of the team from the beginning. In fact, as a coach I had pushed hard for JJ to be the tactician and starting helmsperson. After doing this job in 1992, I knew how critical it was, and I felt that JJ was the best woman for this position. Now, ironically, I was coming back to do my old job, and that meant JJ was the one who'd be replaced. In spite of this change, JJ continued to make valuable contributions by driving the tune-up boat and helping with strategy.

My job, as I saw it, was to fit into the existing crew with as little disruption as possible. I tried to be confident, calm and proficient in my role as tactician, so everyone else could focus on doing her job well. I remember my first day extremely well because I had never raced with the women before, and I had previously sailed on Mighty Mary for only about an hour. Yet throughout the race against PACT '95, I felt an incredibly good chemistry among the crew, even though we lost the race. And when we got back into the harbor, I had the same intuitive feeling I had after losing Race 2 to the Italians three years earlier: I felt we could win the Cup.

Though the press was having a field day with our change, I felt extremely honored and privileged to be a part of this team. I must admit, however, that I wasn't sure initially what it would be like to sail in a crew with all women. Of course, I had to make a few adjustments. For example, I was the only member of the sailing team with my own locker room, and I had to be a little more careful about peeing over the side. But after a month and a half of sailing, I realized that racing on a boat with 15 women was a lot like racing on a boat with 15 men. They all thought of themselves as sailors, they worked extremely hard and they wanted to win.

But it took a while for this to sink in. I remember in the second race I sailed, we led Stars & Stripes around the first windward mark. After doing a bear-away set, our strategy called for an immediate jibe, but I hesitated. Would this crew be able to pull it off? I thought back to 1992. If this was the men's team, I would definitely have called for a jibe. So I went for it, and the women handled the maneuver with no problem.

Another time, in one of the final races, we had a mechanical failure and both spinnaker halyards went up the mast. This meant if we wanted to fly a spinnaker on the final run, someone would have to free-climb 20 feet from the hounds to the masthead. Even though it was fairly rough and we were pretty far behind Stars & Stripes, two members of the crew volunteered immediately. As we debated whether or not to let them try it, I had strong reservations about safety. But I realized that if it had been two men volunteers, I probably would have let them go. So that's what I did.

While I would never trade my experiences on board Mighty Mary for anything, I also felt more pressure than I've felt in any other race. Most of that came from sacrificing the women-only concept. If our performance didn't improve noticeably with me on the boat, it would have been much better to leave me off. At least that's what my mind said. As some of my teammates assured me, however, they agreed to add a man's experience because they thought this would give the team its best shot at success. They realized that, once this decision was made, there was no going back, and it would do no good to second-guess later on.

Another stressful part of this campaign were misconceptions spread through the media. I realize sailing is a complex sport that's not always easy to understand. But let's get a few things straight: Dennis Conner did not cheat or manipulate his way into the defender finals; the three-way agreement was made within the rules and agreed to by all three defense syndicates. Mighty Mary was a good boat considering how little time our designers had, but she was not the fastest defender. And on the final run of the last race, we did not lose because we failed to cover Stars & Stripes (see sidebar); if anything my error was covering them too closely.

Fortunately, most people are not judging the Women's Team by the outcome of that last race. Almost everyone I've talked to since the Cup has expressed several supportive themes: First, the women were their sentimental favorites all along. Second, they were disappointed the women didn't make it into the America's Cup (though they were happy we didn't have to face the Kiwis). And third, they feel the overall campaign was a huge success.

I'm biased, but I agree. For anyone who has doubts, consider the following: In less than one year, a group of women who started with much less experience than their male counterparts and who were sailing a boat no faster than their competition, almost became the defender of the America's Cup. In my mind, that defines success. Sure, our goal was to win the Cup, and we did not accomplish that. Sure, we started out with an all women's sailing team and ended up with one man.

But in the end we were still the Women's Team, and the sailing crew exceeded almost everyone's expectations. The women proved that they are strong enough and skilled enough to function as sailors at the top level. They were able to do all this because they improved together as a team more than any of their competitors. In my opinion, that is a credit to the women, to the support network behind them, and to the principles of teamwork and attitude that have always been at the heart of the America3 philosophy.

---

For additonal information please send e-mail to: Rick Wrightson

---

Copyright © 1995 - 2000
Please send your comments to:Webmaster