14 Questions to … Brainard Cooper

Past Commodore (2003) Brainard Cooper is a lifelong Snipe sailor. Known more for his measurement of Snipes, he has also been SCIRA rep at many events. 

– 1) Your first time on a sailing boat?

Late summer of 1948. My father and I were invited by his assistant to spend an afternoon sailing his Seagull class boat. 18 ½ feet long, 6 ½ feet wide, weight 1000 lbs. with running backstays. No jam cleats of any kind. I loved it from the first.

– 2) Your first time on a Snipe?

Summer of 1950; I was asked to crew for a young college senior named Harold Gilreath in a club fleet race (we won). Harold was later Rules Committee Chairman and Commodore of SCIRA. And a life-time friend.

– 3) The most bizarre thing that happened in a regatta?

A couple of years ago in Miami on Biscayne Bay I was serving as SCIRA Rep. at the Don Q Regatta when the Race Committee Boat (a 40-something deep draft sailboat at anchor) was rammed by a 40 foot yacht under sail on a clear day with almost no other boat traffic on the bay. There were injuries on our boat.

– 4) What is the thing that most angers you in a race/regatta?

Flagrant disregard of the racing rules of sailing. Lack of honor (I know that’s very old-fashioned in today’s world) on the race course.

– 5) Which is the race/regatta that you remember with the most pleasure?

Not a Snipe regatta, sadly. Sailing Antigua Race week on a 40-foot boat I chartered with a group of Snipe friends. No silver, but we won our “class within the class” by beating the two other identical charter boats in every race by as much as 30 minutes in every race.

– 6) And the race/regatta you would like to forget?

Atlanta Yacht Club in the early 50s. I had a half a leg lead and went too close to the shore on the reaching leg and was becalmed. I sat there, with no wind, watching Woody Norwood and Billy Roberts cruise by within speaking distance and couldn’t move! I wish you hadn’t asked me to remember it!

– 7) Your “dream in the peak”? (Your sailing dream?)

I think I have more or less lived it. In addition to frequent bare-boat charters and having done some “big” sailing out on the big blue ocean, my association with the Snipe Class has taken me around much of the “Great Snipe World” and has provided me with many friends from so many different countries. I have raced against many of the best sailors in the world and have gotten to known many more during my years in Class administration. To ask for more would border on greed.

– 8) Sailing goals for 2013, and beyond?

To be on the water as much as possible.

– 9) The most important people for you in sailing and in the Snipe?

So many. Dan Williams, who brought me “back” to the class in the early 60s; Gonzalo Diaz, the “conscience of the Snipe Class;” Jerry Thompson, whom I’ve known for 60 years; Jerelyn Biehl, of course; Means Davis; Birger Jansen. My friend Giorgio Brezich. And so many who are no longer with us such as Chuck Loomis; Ralph Swanson; Buzzy and Marge Lamb; Hisano Kato, John Broughton, and the guys who were my mentors back in the early 50s – Owen Duffy, Harold Gilreath and Dixie Roberts. So very many.

– 10) Why the Snipe?

When I first started sailing a Snipe it was “the only game in town” where I lived and while that may no longer be true, it is still the best game in town. Yes, there are so many other classes today, but the Snipe has been where the action is. No one steps into a Snipe and dominates; it takes time and effort to learn to sail our boat well. It is still as hard to win a major Snipe regatta as it ever was. That slogan (thank you, Don Hackbarth) “Serious Sailing..Serious Fun” was true from the beginning, though I sometimes wonder if the sailors of today are having as much fun as we did 30 or 40 years ago. I hope they are.

– 11) Your perfect sailing venue and your perfect sailing conditions?

Biscayne Bay in the early spring, the British Virgin Islands except perhaps in September, Belize in the late winter and early spring, Mar Menor in Spain. If I had to pick one location for a regatta it would be Ponce, Puerto Rico.

– 12) Besides sailing which other sport do you practice?

Golf very infrequently. Cardiac rehab – yes I know that isn’t a sport, but I treat it as though it were.

– 13) Are you superstitious?

No.

– 14) Your perfect holiday?

Sailing (isn’t it always sailing?) with family or friends in some place warm and tropical.