Passing

When I first moved to Dago in '79, some of the first dudes I started sailing with were the surf rats in Coronado. This was a breeding ground for some of the best west coast sailors.The big names you know are Rod Davis, Robbie Haines, Eddie Tevelyan. There was also another group, equally good, but with an equal amount of interest in good old fucking off: Mel Wills, Aaron Sturm, Butch Parker Scott Harris, Rick Harris, Petey Formica

I always liked these guys because they were kindred spirits and were great to race with and against. It saddens me that one of the rats, Ron Giard, forever known as Naldo, passed away while doing what he spent most of his life doing, racing.

One of his close friends, Mark Surber wrote this tribute for Naldo. Sail on brother.

After several weather-related delays and a precarious start to the San Diego Midwinter's Regatta this past weekend, the weather Sunday permitted a competitive and enjoyable sail for everyone involved. Unfortunately, this otherwise beautiful day turned tragedy when Ronald L. Giard (known also by his friends as "Naldo") passed away from a heart attack on the final upwind of the final race. Leading to this event were a series of maneuvers to shake a covering competitor in the Beneteau 40.7 fleet. Immediately after rounding the leeward mark and grinding the genoa on two consecutive tacks, Ron scrambled to the rail where he went into cardiac arrest against the weather lifelines. A crewmember immediately hailed the SDYC race committee while others initiated CPR. Within 5 minutes the committee chase boat pulled along side where Ron was transferred with the CPR team and taken to the San Diego Harbor Police dock at Shelter Island. Unfortunately, although CPR was continued for the duration of the 30-minute trip, Ron was unresponsive and pronounced dead by medical experts upon arrival.

Ron was 50-years old, a Flag member of Coronado Yacht club, a father to a son, grandfather to a baby girl, and family to all. Ron meant something special to everyone who knew him and thus will be remembered for many extraordinary qualities. Specifically, Ron will be remembered for his extreme passion for sailing, uncompromising friendship, and his exceptional generosity in helping others. To this later point, Ron was always available to provide assistance and in doing so touched the life of most everyone in and beyond sailing. We loved him, miss him terribly, and wish Ron the best of all worlds during his future sailing adventures.

- Friends and loved ones

This tragedy and recent incidences at Key West and other venues has prompted increased concern for the safety of our regatta participants. Given the fact that the success rate of CPR decreases with time and the long distance that most racecourses are from trained medical personnel, better on-the-water safety is clearly required. That said, at an absolute minimum every race committee vessel and/or chase boat should have an automatic defibrillator device aboard, and any off-shore distance or coastal regatta should set these devices as required safety equipment onboard a competing yacht. These devices are relatively inexpensive, simple to maintain, lightweight and require no previous training to operate. Given these facts, it is completely irresponsible of a sponsoring yacht club to not pay serious future attention to this significant lifesaving detail.

For more details on such devices please visit the following sites:

www.aedsafety.com
www.heartcenteronline.com/AED.html

Mark Surber
Coronado Yacht Club
San Diego, California