Remembering Rick White
My Dad and I met Rick White and Mary Wells in the Spring of 92 or 93 at a Hobie Fleet 128 meeting in San Antonio. Rick was there to promote a catamaran sailing seminar he was putting on in Corpus Christi. He had Hobie Alter Jr at the seminar to fill the role of the Guest Expert.I was all in, and begged my Dad to take me. Rick,Mary, and Hobie did put on an awesome clinic. At that point I had raced for a few years. After the clinic I realized maybe I could become decent at catamaran racing.Rick gave me the confidence to continue on pursuing what I loved. One of the days at the clinic we got rained out. So we moved the clinic to the Drury Inn meeting room in Corpus. Rick and Hobie Jr did a lot of talking.There were many videos some including Randy Smyth. I was in awe. I have several memories of Rick. I can remember in the 2002 Worrell 1000 he was driving up the coast in his big RV by himself. When we finished the first leg in Ft Lauderdale he was there taking photos. Later that day I saw him in his RV writing a story for the day. He was a one man show bringing that race to the World. At the time I didn't think much of it. We were so focused on the sailing part of it. I look back now and wonder how did he do that? I have recently seen 3 people try to do the same thing he was doing way back then. He was a pioneer on many fronts. He brought so much to sailing. I am truly thankful I crossed paths with that guy. He was a big inspiration to me. RIP Rick. We are gonna miss you.
John Tomko