Really good news for Zorro

and a lot of hard work ahead for his team

This week we heard some good news for Zorro about his campaign to win the Mallory Cup men’s national sailing championship. Two weeks ago, we held the Sailing Association of Intermountain Lakes (SAIL) championship, officially covering New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, and the western part of Nebraska. Zorro’s team won that championship, and so his team and the second-place team were to go to Austin, Texas, for the semifinals. The one top team in the semifinals was to go to the national championship in San Francisco.

The semifinal was to be a contest between teams from SAIL, the Texas Sailing Association, and the sailing association that covers Oklahoma and the southern Great Plains. But the two teams from SAIL were the only teams to sign up for the Area F championship. Therefore the contest was called off, and Zorro and his team are now representing Area F at the national Mallory Cup championship.

At first glance, this seems ridiculous – a bunch of guys from the desert, competing for a national championship in sailing. But I can assure you, it is far from ridiculous. Zorro is a former Olympic athlete, and he still has the drive that took him to world-class standing. He has a training plan for his team. And he is looking for training opportunities to prepare for the Mallory Cup finals. He knows that the most significant difference between the lake sailing that he usually does and the sailing in San Francisco Bay is the currents, and he wants to get practice sailing in those currents.

There is also the issue of the boat. The Mallory Cup is to be held in J/24s. Zorro has set foot on a J/24 only for the Mallory qualifiers, and not before then. And his crew is mostly not familiar with the J/24. He has talked about bringing a boat of his own to the Bay Area to practice on, that wouldn’t be a J/24 but that would allow him to learn about current. But I don’t think that’s a good idea. For his practice sessions, it would be good for him and his crew to have a J/24 to practice on, since that’s the boat the race will be on.

In Hollywood movie terms, we’re a shoo-in – the crazy lunatics from the desert who don’t even stand a chance, like the Jamaican bobsledders or other nut cases. But really, we have a good solid shot at the championship. We just need a little help, and we’ll be there.