The Message
Read Wrong Message? lower on this page and then come back and read US Sailing Dean Brenner’s response….
Hey guys… several people have reached out to me and asked me to wade in.
I was at ABYC on Sunday, since I had gone out for Nick Scandone’s Memorial Service at BYC. I was not there on Monday for the final day of racing, and didn’t actually see any of the situation covered in this thread. So I can’t comment on anything based on first-hand knowledge. But I think this is pretty straightforward. The local protest committee made a decision. If someone doesn’t like it, they can appeal. That’s how our sport works. I’ll leave it to others to debate the merits of the decision.
We rely on clubs like ABYC to run events like this one, and to supply the protest committee. From everything I saw, they did a great job.
Finally, it seems to me that if the protest committee had made a different decision, and disqualified this young sailor, there would be equally vocal critics decrying such a penalty on the sailor who had won it on the water. Who knows… maybe those critics would have been the exact same people criticizing here and now!
Thanks to ABYC for hosting a great event. And I think we have a great team heading to the Youth Worlds this summer.
Dean Brenner
Chairman
US Olympic Sailing Committee
