I talked with Gordon today - I'm hoping he makes it for the A Cat event here next month; I lured him with sipping rum and free lodging. I don't think he's going to post in this thread, but his knowledge is invaluable; the world will go on spinning without it, but just as with Darline, Gordie has memories that are worth preserving. I will always regret not mining Darline's memory before she was gone; I won't make the same mistake again.

Gordon Isco was leading the Council at a time when the USYRU didn't think much of multihulls. "They can't tack" and "They flip over" and "They're dangerous" and "They aren't REAL boats" were common quotes in the hallways at meetings... Hell, that was the pervasive attitude. Yet the Multihull Council was able to forge a Championship for us. Gordie said his biggest beef since 1985 has been that he always hears cat sailors talk about "them" when referring to US SAILING. "Them" can be "us" and we are "They" in Gordie's mind.

The USYRU Board started calling it the Alter Cup in about 1989 after the event started gaining traction. The Council always called it the Multihull Championship. Gordon, who does some pretty amazing metal sculptures, built the trophy himself - you'll note the boats on the trophy share design characteristics from several classes racing at the time, but aren't identifiable as a particular boat on purpose.

So, it was US SAILING (as USYRU) that coined the "Cup" terminology - it was marketing. Or maybe just a mistake that got perpetuated for it's similarity to the Americas Cup (Gordon's speculation). Regardless, the volunteers that built the event always struggled to balance the competing ideologies among cat sailors in US SAILING - the event was to be a Championship of class Champions, or it was to be a US SAILING tool to build membership by attracting sailors to a qualification ladder and an invitation to the finals. Gordon was responsible for the partnership with Bill Jolley and the Hoyt-Jolley Foundation that funded the event so successfully for over a decade. I hope Bill knows what his donation created and how many sailors he supported...

Youth sailors at Alter Cup



Women sailors at Alter Cup