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Interview by Lydia Wilkins

The 9th Annual Jaguar Cup Winter Regatta Series is at its midpoint with the Piana Cup and Sid Doren Memorial completed and the Florida State Championship and the Jaguar Mid-Winters Regatta coming up in February. With 60 boats competing in the series, Bruce Golison and crew aboard Midlife Crisis is currently leading the 2009 Series with 2nd and 3rd place finishes. I had the opportunity to interview Bruce Golison about his team's consistent finishes in the first half of the series.

- With 60 boats stacked with World Champions, Olympic Medalists, and Americas Cup Veterans competing in the series, how would you compare the level of this Jag Series fleet to world level regattas?

Bruce Golison: the Jaguar Series is pretty amazing in terms of the competition level. It has been a long time since I have raced in other world level regattas, so comparing the Jaguar Series against them is hard, however I would be hard pressed to think that the competition here wouldn’t stack up pretty favorably to other world level regattas.

- You sailed the first 2 of 4 regattas very consistently, placing 2nd and 3rd. What was your team's approach to the regattas?

Bruce Golison: Keeping things simple and always trying to leave ourselves “an out” lane. We are confident in our speed, so for us, having clear lanes to sail the angles we like is important.

- How do you feel about where you stand at the midpoint in the series?

Bruce Golison: It’s nice to have two good scores now and to know that we are sailing well as a team, however there is a long way to go. We will be missing the next regatta, so we are focusing on doing well at the Midwinter’s. After that, we’ll let the chips fall where they will for the Jaguar Series.

- Will Steve Erickson, Bill Lynn, and Peter Lynn remain as your crew for the remainder of the series?

Bruce Golison: Steve Erickson will again be sailing with me and I think my boat partner, Steve Flam will be back to sail with us at the Midwinter’s. Given that, I can’t say enough about how great it was to sail with Bill Lynn and his eleven year old son Peter, who is an up and coming Opti sailor. The four of us sailed together for the first time at the first Jaguar regatta and immediately came together as a real solid team.

- What upwind sails did you use and why did you choose Doyle?

Bruce Golison: We used our Doyle AP main in the first Jaguar regatta which was breezy and our Doyle DC+ main in the second regatta. For jibs, we primarily used our Doyle NLM and DCM jibs. We use the Doyle upwind sails as they are easy to be fast with most all the time. They are very forgiving in terms of sail trim, which means that we can sail fast most of the time without having to stress over our rig and trim setups. As I only have a limited number of regattas I do a year, this ability helps us to be able to sail competitively in this fleet.

The Jaguar Series Regatta Schedule

Piana Cup: December 13 & 14, 2008 Results&Pictures

Sid Doren Memorial: January 10 & 11, 2009 Results

Florida State Championship: February 7 & 8, 2009

Jaguar Mid-Winters: February 27, 28 & March 1, 2009

Labels: Etchells, One Design

Cruising Club of America Press Release New York, N.Y., USA (January 13, 2009) – The Cruising Club of America has selected William (Scott) Piper III, M.D. to receive its prestigious 2008 Blue Water Medal for 12 years of adventurous cruising and voyaging in two boats, Pipe Dream VI, a J/40, and Pipe Dream IX, a 52’ J/160, aboard which he has logged over 132,000 miles, for a total of 180,000 miles. The medal was presented at the club’s annual Awards Dinner in New York on January 13, 2009 by CCA Commodore Ross Sherbrooke, of Boston, Mass.

Now 69, Scott Piper retired a few years ago as an orthopedic surgeon. He graduated from Dartmouth, and later took his residency in New York City, where he served in the Far East during the Vietnam War, and until not long ago practiced in southern Florida. His wife Gillette, is a practicing psychologist. In remote areas, word of a doctor’s arrival travels fast and on numerous instances Scott has performed emergency procedures. On one such occasion a few years ago, a young man was swept over a large waterfall, smashing numerous bones and almost drowning. Scott trucked him to a hospital, took over the emergency room, and performed successful surgery.

Scott Piper has crossed the Atlantic eight times and the Indian and Pacific Oceans four times each. His routes have varied substantially, including high latitude crossings of the North Pacific and Southern Oceans. His voyages have included roundings of three of the world’s great capes, Cape Horn, the Cape of Good Hope, and Cape Leeuwin on the southwest tip of Australia. While he usually sails with friends, some of his voyages have been done solo.

He has been awarded 14 Parkinson Trophies (including one for his recent Pacific crossing) for transoceanic voyaging, and it appears he is due for two more that he has never applied for. In his cruising he has accumulated 126 foreign courtesy flags. He has also raced his boats in offshore races including the Transpac, the Newport Bermuda Race (doublehanded), and the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race.

About the Cruising Club of America
The Cruising Club of America is dedicated to offshore cruising, voyaging and the “adventurous use of the sea” through efforts to improve seamanship, the design of seaworthy yachts, safe yachting procedures and environmental awareness. Now in its 88th year, the club has 10 stations throughout the U.S., Canada and Bermuda, with approximately 1200 members who are qualified by their experience in offshore passage making. In even-numbered years, the CCA organizes the Newport to Bermuda Race in conjunction with the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club. It also sponsors several Safety at Sea seminars and hosts a series of “Suddenly Alone” seminars for the cruising couple.
For more information on the CCA, go to cruisingclub.org.

Labels: Scott Piper