Whether he’s coaching Olympic sailors, setting records at the Everglades Challenge, or doing the stunt sailing in Hollywood blockbusters, Randy Smyth has made a living out of making sailboats go fast.
I just love the crack about the Soccer mom mentality. I've thought the same thing many times. When I was a kid we were asked to disappear outside until dinner time instead of being stuck in the house with screens or only out to "supervised" activities.
I learned to sail at around 8 years old when a friend's Mom got him membership in a local yacht club with a fleet of El Toros. He got instructions from the club, and later he and I would sail around the yacht harbor. We often capsized, then righted the little boat, bailed it out and continued on our adventures. His Mom would drop us off in the morning with sandwiches and fruit for lunch (we were expected to go to the drinking fountain if we were thirsty) and one of our parents picked us up in the afternoon. We also made balsa wood boats and sailed them on park lakes, same scenario: we were dropped off in the morning & picked up in the p.m. with NO adult supervision. If there were any complaints about us, we faced the painful consequences....
Great questions, great answers! Not familiar with Randy, time to do some research. Best wishes to your Nacra 17 team -
I just love the crack about the Soccer mom mentality. I've thought the same thing many times. When I was a kid we were asked to disappear outside until dinner time instead of being stuck in the house with screens or only out to "supervised" activities.
I learned to sail at around 8 years old when a friend's Mom got him membership in a local yacht club with a fleet of El Toros. He got instructions from the club, and later he and I would sail around the yacht harbor. We often capsized, then righted the little boat, bailed it out and continued on our adventures. His Mom would drop us off in the morning with sandwiches and fruit for lunch (we were expected to go to the drinking fountain if we were thirsty) and one of our parents picked us up in the afternoon. We also made balsa wood boats and sailed them on park lakes, same scenario: we were dropped off in the morning & picked up in the p.m. with NO adult supervision. If there were any complaints about us, we faced the painful consequences....