Just a couple months ago the 50 knot barrier was shredded by several kiteboarders in Namibia, Africa, after an epic quest that started in the land Down Under with Yellow Pages Endeavor in 1993. Not 3 weeks later, we have the British Pirate himself ,Sir Richard Branson, going after the Transatlantic Record on Virgin Money. Also, we cannot forget the records the Volvo 70’s are attempting during their 2008-2009 Circumnavigation, or the feats of speed and endurance by the sailors in Vendee Globe.

So what’s the deal? Do these records really matter? Or are they simply a unnecessary ego boost to people within a sport that has a lot of egos?

I have been following the 50 knot record for some time now. I still remember reading about Yellow Pages Endeavor and the quest for 50 knots in a Sailing World in my Coach’s office when I was 8 years old. Yet, as the record got closer and closer to being broken I heard less and less about it. Good luck finding a mention of the Record being broken in the NY Times, much less a recent copy of Sailing World.

Wasn’t this our 4 minute mile?

Days after the record was broken I was at a friends house who was a runner. In his room hung a framed photograph of Roger Bannister breaking the four minute mile.

Right then and there it hit me.

When Bannister broke the 4 minute mile in 1954 every major press line around the world exploded with the news. Why was this news so much more relevant than the ultra athletic feat of breaking the 50 knot barrier while strapped to a two-by-four and 5 meter kite, or sailing around the world alone?

The average person can relate to running a lot more than sailing.

The average person in the U.S. has had to run the mile in grade school gym class, and were lucky to break 7 minutes. As a result of this experience, the average person can appreciate a person that can break a 4 minute mile. On the other hand, most people have not had the chance to shred the gnar gnar on a sailboat, kiteboard, or windsurfer.

The result is that most people still think sailors are stuck up, egotistical, wear preppy clothes, and that we have to find out about major records being broken by scouring the internet. As a result, the only publicity that Sailing receives in the U.S. is for events like the America’s Cup that is as much fun as watching grass grow to the average citizen (usually myself included).

I’m sick of this. Sailing is as old as running, and a hell of a lot more fun. Yet the egos of the sport tend to dominate it. Just the other day I read that there is now controversy over whether the kiteboard breaking the record should be considered legitimate (Of course the NY Times waits until the controversy begins to publish the story of the 50 knot record). Having heard about the court controversy of the Americas Cup for months, and now the BS from the World Sailing Speed Record Council, I am again reminded why most people think our sport is for seersucker wearing snobs.

Chances are your sailing experience does not reflect the court controversies of the Americas Cup, or Embroidered blazer-wearing bureaucracies of the World Speed Sailing Council, yet, you will inevitably be associated with them.

Unless you tell the story here, or in other media outlets, and share it with your family and friends, and come up with new ways to share the sport of sailing with others, then we might as well just ask for that embroidered yacht club blazer during this season of gift giving.