Jim Caruk is the president of The Caruk Group, a renovator and custom homebuilder in the GTA. He is also the host of the show "Real Renos" and runs a week-long homeowner's Do It Yourself camp in Prince Edward County every summer. And now, he is the sponsor of a Masters sailor heading to the Worlds in Halifax. That Master is me.
My reaction to being sponsored was not what I expected. When the cheque came in the mail, I stared at it for a long time with what a friend called a mix of horror, relief and disbelief. I paced the living room. I circled the desk. It took me a week to cash the cheque. For the first time, I felt like my sailing mattered to someone else and I wasn't sure how to react. Competitive sailing is such a selfish pursuit, really, that I couldn't quite get my head around having someone else with a stake in it. At one point I considered sending the cheque back and telling Jim to forget it, that it wasn't really necessary. The problem was…it was terribly necessary if I was to meet my stated goal, which is "to be able to say with conviction on the last day of the Worlds that I had done everything possible to win."
It was about a month before this that I was sitting in my office wondering how on earth I was going to be able to afford the things I considered necessary to win the Worlds. I read the goal pinned on the wall above my desk and realized that it wasn't just clinics and sailing and taking time off work and hitting the gym that was "doing everything possible." I needed to find money, too. I picked up the phone and called Jim. He's normally hard to reach, but this time he answered right away. "Hey Jim, want to sponsor me in my quest for World domination?" I said, trying to be jocular. We talked. He say sure, why not, and he asked me what I needed and I told him and he said sure again, and we hung up and it was done.
And the cheque arrived and made concrete something that I could only have dreamed and till that point didn't think would actually happen. I'm pretty sure there aren't many Masters with sponsors in the North American Laser fleet.
I ordered the logos from North Sails and I applied them to my Radial sail in anticipation of the Royal Canadian Yacht Club Open Regatta and The Caruk Group is now officially a part of my Worlds campaign. That is my Royal Treat.
The regatta was only memorable for the logo, unfortunately. I sailed badly. Winds were light. But there were highlights and lessons. I sailed close to Clair Merry long enough to learn something about sailing the Radial fast upwind in light air, and thanked her as she tacked away. I watched David Wright and Bernard Luttmer crab their boats directly towards the committee boat as they waited for the gun to sound at the boat end of a starting line. (Back your main, then scull as if you are trying to bear off. The competing forces drive the boat directly sideways. It is amazing to watch and I can't wait to try it.) I caught up about 100 yards on one leg of a downwind by getting a nice leech flick going.
My starts were solid. Perhaps most encouraging of all, Nigel Heath, a member of our Masters Racing Team, won the Radial fleet and the prize of a flight to England for the UK Nationals. He is wonderfully fast in the light stuff, and I will get a chance to learn from him in the coming months during our clinics.
Bernard Luttmer won in the full rigs, but not till David Wright and Chris Dold had their day in court for a protest that I don't know the substance of. Another bright spot, which had nothing to do with Lasering; Sara Bury and John Hudson, members of my club, St. James Town Sailing Club, won the North American Albacore Championships on the same course. Sara was unceremoniously dumped from the Canadian Woman's Yingling Team just before the Bejing Olympics, and has been hiding in the wilderness of the Outer Harbour since, sailing with us and being a valued member of the club. The NAs is not the Olympics, and she certainly didn't need to prove to us that she was a good sailor, but I am sure getting a major win was something she needed after her snubbing and is plenty of proof to others that she is a first class sailor as well as a top class human being.
And at the risk of embarrassing Sara and John, I have to tell you that, when they came off the water and I asked them what it was that gave them the win, John was very quick to reply, "It was the love in the boat." It was his attempt at deflective humour, but he was dead on just the same. They are a postcard couple that clearly love and respect each other-yet another reason to cheer their victory. It was definitely one for the good guys.
Regatta Results: www.rcyc.ca/LinkClick.aspx?link=0946_001.pdf&tabid=119&mid=526
Rob Koci races in both the Laser Full-Rig and Laser Radial fleets around District 3. Currently, Rob is the District 3 secretary and maintains a frequently updated race diary on D3Laser.com. Rob's home port is St. James Town Sailing Club in Toronto, Ontario.
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