14 Question to … Peter Commette

Peter Commette, Laser World Champion, Olympian (Finn), Snipe Champion

– 1) Your first time on a sailing boat?

I don’t know. I was very young. I can tell you about my first time as skipper of a boat.

Back in 1960, a six-year old boy was given on his birthday a duck boat (a learner boat originally used for duck hunting in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s`).

It was March 13, and he couldn’t wait for summer to race that duck boat on Barneget Bay in New Jersey. The summer finally came, he jumped in his new boat, and at six years old, won every race that year at Mantoloking Yacht Club. Amazing!

I wish I were that child. True, I did get my duck boat on March 13, 1960, at six-years old. True, I could not wait for the summer, but the similarity ends there.

When my summer of 1960 came, my dad put me in that boat with some other child as crew. He pushed us off from the hoist area at our yacht club, and with tremendous confidence, he told me that I could sail the boat west, past the end of the dock, turn south, and come back in heading east at the next dock where the boat’s slip for the summer was located, and I could land my boat safely in its slip. He was partially right.

I was able to somehow get the boat out and around the dock, back down into the next set of docks, and then I remember thinking about crewing the day before and how the person for whom I was crewing had made this really nice landing going from north to south against the southerly breeze right into the slip next to where my boat’s slip was located. I figured I could do that, too. So I remember lining up the boat and going through in my head how nice and soft my landing would be, just the same as the day before.

There was only one problem; a front had blown through the night before, and the wind was coming from the north this time, instead of south. So when I angled my boat to land, instead of luffing and slowing down, much to my surprise, and my crew’s, who was on the bow to fend off, the boat picked up speed. First, I destroyed the boat’s forestay; then, I destroyed my poor little crew trying to fend off, sending him to the hospital for stitches; and finally I destroyed my mast, breaking it off about two feet up from the deck. That was my first time skippering and my last time in a boat that summer!

– 2) Your first time on a Snipe?

My first time on a Snipe was with my college friend crewing, Alex Smigelski. We bought the used boat in 1986 or 1987 on Old Man Diaz’s recommendation. We combined our last names for the boat’s name, “Com-Smel.” Bad name! The Old Man told us that we could win the world championship in that boat, so it was pretty funny to us that, when we won our first race in it, The Old Man came up to us and told us that he couldn’t believe we won a race in that old boat!

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

The most bizarre thing that ever happened to me in a sailboat did not happen at a regatta. My most bizarre regatta story is racing in the 38 foot “A” Cat that we sail on Barnegat Bay, New Jersey. These are massively wide, old (designed in the 1920’s), heavy wooden boats. My college friends and I were racing an “A” Cat one summer in a very strong breeze. When the wind is very strong, you must reef the main by tying the main to the boom at reef points. We reefed the main, and we rounded the windward mark in first place, but on a long reach across Barnegat Bay, the wind started to slacken, and the other boats started to catch us.

Take the reef lines out, right? Not that easy. We had tied the reef lines with no thought that the wind might die. The knots had gotten very tight. We could not get rid of the reef lines, without going head to wind, lowering the mainsail, and cutting the lines or spending a lot of time trying to untie them, and we had no knife. Such a dilemma – doing nothing would cause us to lose, or doing the necessary maneuver to take out the reef lines would cause us to lose. Being young and stupid, I decided there was a third alternative. I grabbed an empty beer bottle. (Where did that come from?) I broke the bottle against the side of the boat and then crawled along the boom over the water, cutting all the reef lines. Look at the photos. You can see that the first ones were easy. It got much harder and stupider as I got to the end. Had I considered what I would do when I got to the end of the boom? No. Had I considered that I might never make it to the end of the boom? Definitely not! I made it to the end, cut out all the reef lines, and I almost made it back. It turns out that there was a third way to lose the race.

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

Three things: me, myself and I.

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

So many. I’ll give you my top ones:

1. Sailing in the my first world championship, the 1973 470 Worlds in Kiel, Germany. It is my favorite because of the meaning it had for me, my friends and one of my friend’s family. I had won the US Singlehanded Youth Champs that summer in Lasers, and Augie Diaz was second. Augie won the next big regatta that summer, the 470 Nationals, and I was 5th. Augie was supposed to go to the 470 Worlds in Germany, and I was supposed to go to the Youth Singlehanded Worlds in Portugal. However, a great US 470 sailor and one of my best friends, Manton Scott, had just died (electrocuted at a regatta when his 470 mast hit a wire), and his crew and his family asked me to sail Manton’s boat in the 470 Worlds for him. The US team allowed the substitution. Augie went to the Youth Worlds, held at the same time, and won. I went to the 470 Worlds and finished a close second, losing by a point, proving to ourselves and Manton’s family, that Manton would have won.

2. Sailing the Snipe Worlds with my family – 5th with Connie, 16th with Morgan when she was 16, and 3rd with Sheehan when she was 18.

3. Sailing in any regatta in Japan. I’ve been there five times, and the Japanese consistently combine good sailing with good fun, organization, thoroughness, great food, friendship, and sincere care and kindness.

4. The summer of racing E-Scows with three of my good childhood friends crewing for me.

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

Again, there are so many:

1. My college team lost the national championships in 1977 because I was disqualified from the last race.

2. My college team lost the national championships in 1975 because I did not cover the right person up the last leg of the last race.

3. My college team lost a major regatta because I did something stupid on Saturday night, so that I overslept and missed the first race Sunday morning.

4. My college team was stuck outside in the snow one night at Connecticut College, an all-girls school then, until they found me and got the keys to the car from me.

Do you see a recurring theme here?

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

To go back in time, back to college and make things right for my teammates.

– 8) Sailing goals for 2013, and beyond?

Just happy to be back. Since 2009, I have had to cut back my sailing, culminating in recently taking a full year off. I think that I can sail more this year, so my goals are simple: train with my friends and race against them. There is nothing better than that.

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

1. My college coach, Joe Duplin.

2. Manton Scott.

3. Connie, the finest teammate ever.

4. My children, who got me back into sailing in 2002. I have had so much fun sailing with Morgan, Kelly and Sheehan.

5. The Diaz family: The Old Man, Carmen, Gonzo, Augie, Annie.

6. Ernesto Rodriguez.

7. Runnie Colie.

8. Carl Van Duyne.

– 10) Why the Snipe?

Serious sailing. Serious fun.

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

Perfect venues:

1. Where I live, Ft. Lauderdale. Sailing in the ocean here is special. Our race courses have long fetches, big waves, mostly reliable pressure, and potentially epic racing conditions with 15-foot breaking waves on our reef systems.

There have been days when 60 foot sport fishing boats are barely able to exit the inlet, but our Optimist and Laser teams are out there sailing, along with, sometimes, Augie, Ernesto and me practicing in our Snipes. Speed testing is more reliable here, and downwind technique in the Finn, Laser and Snipe is rewarded and developed. If you can get comfortable in the big breeze easterly in Lauderdale, you will be relaxed in anything else the planet has to offer.

2. Buzios, Brazil.

3. Cabo Frio, Brazil

4. Montague Bay, Nassau

5. Biscayne Bay, Miami

Favorite conditions: Big wind and big waves.

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

None, anymore. I work out almost daily, but that’s it. I grew up playing tennis, US football, baseball, basketball, running track (200m and 400m), and wrestling, but now, when I think of doing anything physical, all I can think of is how I might injure myself!

– 13) Are you superstitious?

No, but in trial or at an important hearing (I am a lawyer), I always wear one of my father’s articles of clothing (tie, belt or pin), not for luck or superstition, but to feel close and connected to a great man and a great lawyer who won with honor and dignity. There is much strength and comfort derived from feeling a part of something more than just yourself.

– 14) Your perfect holiday?

I had it in 2008. Connie and I flew to Rome, took the train to Lugano, Switzerland, to see a friend who is a client (tax deductible trip!), then to Venice for a few days. Afterwards, our good friend, Pietro Fantoni, picked us up and drove us to Cervia for the Piada Cup, where we saw old friends, met new ones, had great parties, drank excellent wine, raced go-carts, and sailed in a magical regatta in a terrific place with my wonderful wife back as crew. Then, Connie and I, along with our good friends, Doug and Melanie Broeker, who also sailed in the regatta, ate and drank our way through Tuscany and down to Rome for the next week or so. I want to duplicate that.