Volume: 3

Tanking

Winning big and then purposely losing.

There was one rating system that included an arbitrary factor provided by a committee called the COB or Committee of Blue. Old people thought Blue referred to the ocean. Young people thought it was short for Blue-hairs. If a boat won too often, the committee would adjust the rating, effectively penalizing good performance whether by the boat's design or the crew that sailed it. The unstated goal of the committee was to tweak the system so perfectly that every race would end in a tie for first (or last) by everyone.

In the race to Puerto Vallarta, Lowell's boat, designed by Zeke, ended up winning by a lot, contrary to my initial thinking. Boats that did that became known as "rule beaters." The rating committee only met on alternate whenevers and would not have heard of Lowell's success leaving the rating unchanged for the second event in Puerto Vallarta.

Fearing that another victory would ultimately and adversely affect their rating by the COB, Randy and Lowell decided that it would be better to go out and purposely lose the second event. They thought this would protect the boat's rating from adjustment by the COB, thus allowing them to go out and win some other event. So, if they ever wanted to win again, they would jeopardize their ability to win. With no point in winning, there seemed to me to be no point in going out there at all. I could better spend my time sucking money from my information-addicted clients, sailing my Finn or flying airplanes. I made it clear to Randy and Lowell that I wasn't all that adept and making a boat go slow and tanking races. I took an early flight home.