The reason that this all came about the way it did was pretty simple and didn't really have todo with getting rid of professionals in favor of corinthians. It is all about fiberglass. Back when yachts like Nina, BigTi and Escapade ruled the waves, they were maintained by a professional crew. They had to be. There was no way an owner could keep up with keeping them in top shape. So these crews, Nina had around 4-5 paid crew while Escapade had 3-4 staff, would also sail the boats along with the owners and their friends. In the case of Nina, which Grandad sailed on, had 8 Corinthian crew and 4 professionals for most races. Now the family biz being printing, Grandad used to write about each major race and at the end of the season he would publish, usually hardbound, books of the past season. He would get photos that were taken by newspapers reporting on the races and some crew shots and make a real nice book for the skipper and his crew mates. I know some of you will chuckle at that but back post WWII it was a big deal to have a small camera onboard. At the same time you got your results from The New York Times (heck that was still going on come the 70's). The professional crew members are always listed separately. Generally there would be a skipper, steward, and a couple of deck hands. All of the afterguard listed were amateurs. The owner listed as Master, and his pals filling the roles of watch captains, navigators and helmsmen.Anyhow, the point is that while there were pros sailing, the reasons were not to have a professional crew to hunt pickle dishes. It was a function of keeping the race boats of the day ship shape and thus able to compete. They were indeed still sailed by amateur crews for the most parts.FTFY. Original yacht racing crews were mainly paid.I have a memoir from a family friend about a trans-Atlantic race she went on where the crew went on strike right before the start over not enough bonus cash if they won. Sandbagger* crews were doing it for money and were famously susceptible to being bribed (aka sandbagging). Big money was bet on the outcome of those races. America's Cup entries were powered by paid-for Swedish Steam.
The Corinthian movement was all about getting the paid riff-raff off the boat to be replaced by Muffy and Biff's friends from the club. Maybe not as good, but the right sort of people wink-wink
We then moved on to 1970s era crew that was not paid to race per se, but paid a lot to clean the boat or sell them sails they didn't need or other such bullshit. This was pretty much restricted to the upper end of the fleet.
Eventually it got too hard to prove who was being paid to be a winch polisher for real and who was being paid to sail and we went to the system we have now.
* Sandbagger = 19th century version of an Aussie skiff
Fortunately (at least that what I think) :
Such a lovely boat she was. I had the great pleasure to sail on her (Nina)well after DeCoursey's death. She was sitting in a marina I worked at and the owner invite me for a sail. I asked him if I could bring my Dad and explained that he had crewed on her as a young man along with his dad (my Grandad). We were treated like royalty. My dad was pretty choked up thinking about the times he had sailed on her with his father, who passed about 15 years prior.Have some great photos of her and her crew. Also have some great pics of Escapade. Grandad sailed on her as well as he was a notable navigator of that era.
Just to be annoying, your comment about NASCAR team owners not getting to ride around the track isn't exactly correct. Just off the top of my head, Tony Stewart and Micheal Waltrip race for the team they own. There's plenty more examples, but I don't pay that much attention.
a lot of team owners are former drivers too. richard childress gave up his seat for dale earnhardt.
Clean.......I'm not going to fight you......but the pros on Liam's boat are not getting paid more than 75% of the pros on the other M20s. The M20 has a vibrant amateur driver/ pro crew scene. I don't want to sound like the 1/10 of 1% but if you think $3k per boat per day that Scot quoted is a big deal then you are out of touch with what many of the M20 program budgets are. It is still a fraction of a M32 program costs which is why it has become the post credit crisis circuit ....less ostentatious.
Why? That's an easy one to answer. Because they can. And the class rules allow it.
