Dana Paxton (paxton@mediapronewport.com)

"One of the things we've improved on our team is eliminating our condition-specific weakness," said Perini. "We used to do poorly in light air, but we're pretty comfortable now. We don't have a favorite condition, but given the choice we like more wind than less. We’re quite comfortable in all conditions."

The fleet in Sydney was 28 boats strong and included many of the 2006 entries. The fleet in Newport may be tougher to compete in, not only because of its size, but for the fact that every boat has been training for this moment, selecting the very best amateur and professional crew members. Four teams that will be hard to beat include four World Champion teams: 2004/1998 world champion and Newport summer resident Jim Richardson on Barking Mad with tactician Terry Hutchinson of Emirates Team New Zealand and Morgan Trubovich of BMW Oracle Racing; 2003 world champion Massimo Mezzaroma and Antonio Sodo Migliori, (Rome, Italy) on Nerone with tactician Hamish Pepper, an Olympian and America's Cup tactician; 2002 world champion Steve Phillips (Arnold, Md.) on Le Renard with tactician Mark Reynolds, the two-time Olympic Gold Medalist; and 1999 world champion Ernesto Bertarelli (Switzerland) on Alinghi with tactician Brad Butterworth, three-time America's Cup winner and skipper of Team Alinghi, current holder of the America's Cup.

The team on Perini's Evolution also will be up against their countrymen aboard Matt Allen's Ichi Ban and Lang Walker's Kokomo, 7th and 14th, respectively, in 2005. "Matt has had some good results since he's been racing in Newport," said Perini of Ichi Ban's recent triumph in the 16-boat Farr 40 class at the New York Yacht Club Annual Regatta presented by Rolex. "He is the only thing we have as a bench mark for our team."

Another team Perini looks at as serious competition is Mascalzone Latino, the eponymous entry of Vincenzo Onorato. With tactician Russell Coutts, the three-time America's Cup champion and two-time ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year on the team, Onorato has a good chance of winning the Worlds, something he has attempted since joining the class in 2000. This year alone, Onorato has won the Rolex Farr 40 European Championship, the Sardinia Rolex Cup, Rolex Capri Sailing Week and Acura Key West Race Week. "Vincenzo has been doing really well, he beat us in the Rolex Trophy Series One Design in our other boat," said Perini of the Australian event lead up to the Rolex Sydney Hobart held over the Southern Hemisphere summer.

In addition to the World Cup, the winning skipper will be presented with a commemorative Rolex timepiece. The recently created Corinthian Trophy will be presented to the best performing team that declares itself in the Corinthian category. Basically, those teams have a maximum of two professional sailors on board and a reduced number of new sails in the calendar year. Corinthian Trophy competitors race with the rest of the fleet, and owners who register for the Corinthian trophy are also eligible for winning overall event prizes. Already, 10 teams - roughly one-third of the fleet - have registered their intention to compete for this trophy. The Service Academy Trophy will be awarded to the top military academy crew. Currently, there are two such teams entered from the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, Kings Point, N.Y.

Taking place on Rhode Island Sound, daily races will use the same course configuration - short windward-leeward courses lasting a little over one hour each - under the guidance of Principal Race Officer Peter "Luigi" Reggio with assistance from the New York Yacht Club's Race Committee. On Sept. 1-2, the Worlds fleet will participate in a tune-up regatta, the Belle Mer Farr 40 Pre-Worlds.

From August 30 - September 9, all of the teams will be based at the Goat Island Marina, with Belle Mer serving as the event's Race Village and host of the Media Center. Social activities will take place at New York Yacht Club's Newport clubhouse Harbour Court, Belle Mer, and culminate at the Rolex Awards Party, held at the historic Gilded Age mansion Marble House on Bellevue Avenue.

The Rolex Farr 40 World Championship is in its ninth year and will celebrate its 10th anniversary in Copenhagen, Denmark in 2007. The World Championship has been sailed in North America, Europe or Australia every year since the class was established in 1997. The Rolex Farr 40 World Championship joins other prestigious Rolex-sponsored 2006 events including the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup, Rolex Swan Cup, Rolex Big Boat Series and the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race.

For more information about the Rolex Farr 40 World Championship, including the full list of entries, go to the official event website www.farr40worlds.com . Results also will be posted on New York Yacht Club's website www.nyyc.org .

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Or, would there be any protests at all?

In my view, the race issue is like the weather; everyone talks about it, but no one really wants to address the real, bottom line issues involved. It’s kind of like the social worker who chides the police officer for arresting a wayward juvenile…until that juvenile breaks into the social worker’s home. Only then, does the crime issue become ‘real’.

Aren’t feeling me yet? Well, let’s move on. What do Rodney Dangerfield and Men of Color have in common? BOTH get little in the way of respect. Furthermore, as Dangerfield’s ‘lack of respect’ was based upon comedic wit, great timing and keen observation, the ‘lack of respect’ still swirling around Men of Color in this country is, in my humble opinion, rooted in planned, deliberate, and calculated ignorance.

I hope that my opening illustration will shock more than a few people who have read my work in the past. As we used to say back in the day: “I want to comfort the afflicted, and afflict the comfortable.” Sadly there are too many, both outside and inside of our communities who are STILL practicing this sin of favoring one person over another because of color. It is getting more and more obvious in the mainstream that the greatest fear is: “Guess Who Your Daughter May Be Marrying!”

Brothers, to be counted as a man means that there comes a time when we need to ‘clear the air’ about a few things in our modern society, in order to have the next generation of young Black men grow up to be wise, able to compete and free to see things as they actually ARE--and honestly evaluate their options. I ask a clear hearing on my subject this month, as I am not a racist…but a realist. I’m not stoking the fire, but I am going to be throwing strikes, cause Home Plate never moves. We KNOW that there IS deception in the land of the free and the home of the brave on the issue of race. The cold reality is, we have stopped teaching our young men how to spot-and confront--intentional and harmful actions, rise above them, and expose them with all of the class and grace the Lord will bestow upon us.

Yes, racism DOES exist in this land. The following two-part commentary is but a mere ‘cliff’ session, designed to remind US that there IS a standard of performance based upon racism. Black folk in general, and Black men in particular STILL have to do twice as much to be counted ‘average’ or even competitive by the mainstream.

Let me hasten to add that ‘going off’ on racists does not destroy the demon. Sometimes, the best way to deal with those who ‘hate’ is to ‘withdraw’ yourself from them and let ‘em choke on the consequences of their own bad behavior.

THE “WHITE GUILT” LIE

True freedom often involves an occasional throwing off of lies. Truth--Men of Color have ALWAYS come through when America has landed upon hard times, especially in those instances America did NOT want us to participate, nor expect us to help. Since 1619, WE have been MORE loyal to this country than it deserves, Amen?

I happened across several items, in addition to my model example, to kick my switch for the month. They range from Ishmael Reed’s “Another Day At The Front”, to the Time Magazine 2006 Cover Story about the ‘plague’ of white youth dropping out of school, to several recent articles discussing Black progress and White Guilt written by a rainbow of writers, columnists, and scribes, and, least I forget, some wrong treatment of a friend of mine by people she was trying to help.

Here’s a real shock: Unless you have been living under a rock since the age of ten, MOST of us who are Black and male know that there is NO such animal as ‘White Guilt’.

It’s all part of “The Game”.

Brothers, members of the Caucasian race who live in the USA do not feel a bit guilty over the progress they have made in society. I am a fan of Shelby Steel’s, but I must firmly disagree with him on the matter of White Guilt. If one wanted to be accurate about how white America views us, it is a look of bizarre amazement. We STILL survive IN SPITE OF the playing field being shifted, day by day…and sometimes hour by hour.

It gets hotter and better this month, brothers as to be ‘pro-Black’ does not mean ‘anti-white’. The Black man who dares to better himself, stay loyal to his wife, and conduct his family as God has intended will be seen as a suspect--even by some of those of the Caucasian ranks who may have talk shows, appear regularly on Christian or Non-Christian television, write books, be male or female, or may be wearing clerical collars, carrying Bibles, and addressing themselves as either ‘liberal’ or ‘conservative’.

Let‘s turn up the heat a little more. The Man of Color who can conduct himself on any field of endeavor will likely find himself the target of snipers, slander, gossip and accusation at each level. If you are opinionated, certain folk are waiting for you to ‘go off’. If you don’t use ‘slang’, you are branded a ‘nerd’; if you do use it, you are tagged as being ‘rough and thuggish’. If you work hard and get ahead, you ‘made it’ due to someone’s ‘gift’ to you. If you work hard and are overlooked for promotion or advancement, you don’t ‘understand’ how the game is played.

Ah, but we DO understand how it is played. Unfortunately, too many of our young brothers are content to chew on their piece of basketball, Hip Hop, and Hollywood ‘glory’, yet if they had to go out and work a regular job like the rest of the brotherhood, many of them would wind up behind bars, in a psych ward…or both.

“The Game” will always be right in your face, my brother. Daring you; dogging you, and chiding you into doing something drastic, dangerous, and dumb. “The Game” is even played in the Church house, and in the Christian community. If you ‘confront’ some of the so-called ‘light brothers’ in Christ, you are either ignored, made fun of, or accused of being one of ‘those’ types. This is especially comical as the biblical account has unshakeable evidence that the Hebrews, from Moses to Jesus to Paul, had more ‘soul’ to their color than folk want to admit.

I think I just lost some conservative and liberal Christian ministries, Amen? Typical. How can one win, let alone compete, in this type of daily, hostile environment?

Simple. Realize that “The Game” is, what it is…a means of testing your mental metal. Train yourself to not just win, but to THRIVE! Take a tip from the late Earl Woods. Discipline yourself AND get back to training your children as to how to mentally stand against any attack; act instead of react. Realize that EACH day you head into the workforce IS a day of preparation and a day of battle.

Take your ‘ten’ at work, but let your natural down in your OWN home. Sun Tzu has NOTHING on a determined Black man. What “White Guilt?” It’s just a part of “The Game”.

What is “The Game”? Those who are in the thick of daily competition getting US to focus on what the right hand is doing, while the left hand has all of the secrets. In short, by design it has us wasting energy, time and resources being reactive, when we should be proactive. When Christ walked the earth, there was a very interesting business venture in the funeral industry called the ‘paid mourner’. These people were slipped a few coins and could cry on cue for the ‘dearly departed’. Mention racism to some Black folk, and you get the same reaction. It is high time we stop ‘crying’ about what is being done ‘to’ us, and take the battle to the next level.

And…do it with a smile!

More to come next month!

MIKE RAMEY is the author of “THE MANHOOD LINE”. A monthly, syndicated column written from a biblical, business, and common sense perspective. This column appears on fine websites around the world. To correspond, drop an Email to the author at the following address: manhoodline@yahoo.com . ©2006 Mike Ramey/Barnstorm Communications International. Ten years (1996 to 2006) of bringing the issues, the heat, and the solutions to the brotherhood around the world!