Local Hack Craps on King, Drives Him from Sport

Ever been at a regatta, maybe you're doing pretty well. and some hack comes over and tacks in your face, for no good reason? It might be one of the biggest bullshit moves in sailing, and it always seems like it's done by some a-hole who thinks he's better than he is. It's one thing if a guy slams you to protect a lead or position; where the facial might actually be warranted. Everybody's done it, and everybody's had it done to them. And while it sucks, you accept it as part of the game. 

How about, though, when a guy who perhaps is nowhere near as good as he'd like people to believe, posts finishes of 12-15-14 in a 19-boat fleet?  And let's say, a guy who is significantly higher up on the sailing food chain in every respect, posts finishes of 3-3 (and a good shot of winning) going into the final race.

Now the guy with the 3-3, who is everybody's hero, is having a bad final race, and the guy with the 12-15, who is some pr hack who's never really won anything, converge on the final beat, with the hack, for the first time in the entire regatta, actually crossing ahead. 

Now, there are two schools of thought in a situation like this: A) a guy with any conscious says, "Hey, there's that really good guy – he’s having a bad race – but we are, as usual, getting our ass kicked. There’s no reason to hit him, so let’s let him go.”  Or there’s B), where the small-minded hack says “Hey. There’s that really good guy – we have absolutely nothing to gain by slamming him. In fact it’s a punk move that makes me look like the chump that I am, but let’s do it anyway!” Now the decision here is an easy one for most. You don’t tack on the guy – what do you gain? If you do tack on him. you look like an a-hole because you are an a-hole.  Of course, in our story, the hack tacks on the king, proving the theory that, well, he’s an a-hole. 

A scenario like this probably happens way too much in local fleets across the country. When it happens to arguably the greatest sailor of all time, by one of the most over-rated of all time, it bears repeating. 

The greatest of all time, would quite naturally, be the legendary Paul Elvstrom. There’s certainly no disputing his contribution to the sport. The offending hack in this story is Tom Leweck, legendary in nobody’s mind, except his own, but a career spin doctor with his own agenda: The glorification of Tom Leweck. 

The regatta was the Masters Regatta held in ‘Frisco. The results from above are exactly how these two did in the regatta. Here’s the best (or worst) part: At the awards ceremony afterwards, apparently Leweck’s facial was, to put it mildly, less than well received by Elvstrom. What follows is quoted from Latitude 38: 

In his introduction of the Great One, Leweck jokingly mentioned what a thrill it had been in his otherwise lousy regatta to tack directly on Elvstom in the final moments of the last race. (Now here’s where it gets good – Ed)   In halting English, the soft-spoken Dane countered with, “Many years ago, I stopped racing on purpose. Today, in the last race, I remembered why.” 

Then in a bittersweet moment that took everyone by surprise, he announced “Tomorrow will be my last race.”