SAILING MASTER
Images trigger memory. Preparing to interview the golden boy of American sailing, I thought I would find a picture that would show Ken Read at the peak of his sailing career, his heyday, to share and have a warm and fuzzy start to our conversation.
It was a commanding image from the weather quarter of Dennis Conner’s Stars and Stripes during the 2003 America’s Cup. That dark, high-gloss hull, red, white and blue cove stripe, sponsor logos everywhere. And there’s Kenny Read, blond hair flying around, hunched on the rail where any racing sailor with any ambition wanted to be. He was the leader of a two-boat Cup team, with all the top American sailors and designers. As good as it gets.
My idea backfired.
“The 2003 Cup was no fun,” says Read, with a nervous laugh. He pauses, stares at his desk, then looks up. “I had to manage huge expectations. We had all these different teams that didn’t speak to each other. How could it be wrong? It was a disaster.”
One of the two boats, USA 77, sank while training off San Diego when its rudder post failed and the Pacific Ocean filled the carbon hull. The team never recovered.
“Dennis wasn’t easy on me. There were a lot of fingers being pointed,” Read recalls. “I came out of that at the lowest point in my career.” Up until the eventual elimination of , the awkward silver trophy that is the America’s Cup
