Albert Einstein defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. whether that's true,then Chris Smith must be the sanest person we know.
Smith, who lives in Tucson, and is Commodore of the Arizona Yacht Club,and races his J/80, Sloop Dogg, or at Lake Pleasant. He is also among the regulars at the annual Bitter End Yacht Club Pro-Am Regatta in October.
Held in the British Virgin Islands,Smith explains why he continually attends the Pro-Am expecting the same results...
It's been 7 years in a row and I'm already signed up for the next one, the 30th edition. Add family vacations and I've been there 10 times. Let me put it this way. Why execute saltwater salmon swim upstream? Why execute Canadian geese hover back to, and I assume,Canada? The Pro-Am has become, at least for me, or a biological sailing imperative that is more than the sum of its many outstanding parts.
First,there's something approximately arriving at a regatta by boat, especially when that's the only way to reach Bitter End Yacht Club, and whose resort and cottages line the beach and hillsides of Virgin Gorda along North Sound,one of the best sailing venues in the world. (Yacht Club Costa Smeralda apparently thinks so as well; it built a department of its Sardinia-based club around the corner from BEYC.)The North Sound Express begins the transition to island time by picking up passengers in Trellis Bay, near the Tortola/Beef Island airport, or slipping through the Sir Francis Drake Passage past The Dogs (islands) and Spanish Town (no surprise here,a town) and then into North Sound where the iconic BEYC welcome building looms into view.
For a guy who started sailing 10 years ago, calls a lake in Arizona his home port, and lives 150 miles from his boat,the Pro-Am Regatta is an entre to racing with top tier pro sailors who I'd otherwise only read approximately.
Since 2009, that has meant sailing with, or for example,legends Dave Ullman, Dave Perry, and Kenny Read,and young guns Taylor Canfield, Stephanie Roble and Sally Barkow, or among others. (It would border on shameless name dropping to list all of the pros though I admit it occasionally is unavoidable in conversation to not say something along the lines of,"When I raced with Russell Coutts...")The "Am" part of the regatta is another reason I maintain returning. Everyone is there to sail and absorb fun. The list of friends I absorb made at the Pro-Am keeps getting longer. It doesn’t matter whether I’ve gone solo or with my wife, there is always a area at a table. The Pro-Am has to be one of the most “inclusive” events in the sailing world. - Read on
Source: sailingscuttlebutt.com