NEWPORT, R.I. – Former Yale Sailors David B. Perry '77 and Briggs Cunningham Jr. '31 will be inducted into the National Sailing Hall of Fame this year. The virtual induction for the class of 2020 takes place on Sept. 12.
Perry, who goes into the hall under the title "enthusiastic teacher," grew up racing a variety of small dinghies out of the Pequot Yacht Club on the north shore of Long Island Sound. In 1971 he won the Clinton M. Bell Trophy for having the best junior record on Long Island Sound. In 1973 he was accepted to attend Yale and was captain of the team when the Bulldogs won the Intercollegiate Nationals in 1975.
Here's what Gary Jobson said about Perry in his profile for the HOF.
Perry was named an All-American twice. Fundamentally, Perry has three attributes: he is a great sailor, is a passionate teacher and one of the top authorities on The Racing Rules of Sailing. He has ex-celled in all three areas and has provided unparalleled inspiration to thousands of young sailors. Between 1986 and 2006 he served as the Director of Athletics at Green Farms Academy, an independent day school in Westport, CT. In 1977 he worked with US Sailing conducting Advanced Racing Clinics and Sailing Instructor Seminars around the United States.
His list of sailing victories include winning the US Match Racing Championship five times, winning the Congressional Cup twice, and winning class championships in the Soling, Tasar, and Ideal 18s. Through all of his racing experiences and teaching clinics he became a highly sought-after coach and rules advisor for Olympians and America's Cup teams. I asked him what it takes to win an Olympic medal, "It's really the ultimate in our sport. The best sailors don't know more than the others. When the pressure is on they're executing well. Their boats are prepared and their boat handling is perfect. It's not that the good sailors have any magic, but they are prepared and when the pressure is on they perform. My job as a coach is to make sure that we're all prepared so that we are operating at 100% at the Olympics. They are all pretty good athletes, it's the mental part that makes the difference."
For the past forty plus years Dave Perry has conducted well over 1,000 clinics and seminars on tactics and the rules. Every four years when the new rules are published he updates his book, "Understanding the Racing Rules of Sailing." One of his true passions is serving as Chair the Appeals Committee in the USA. This is the body that decides on the interpretations of the rules. For all his work, US Sailing awarded him the Nathanael Greene Herreshoff Trophy in 2020. Dave uses humor and analogies during his clinics and tries to help sailors understand how to improve using examples from other sports, business or life in general. As a coach, Perry has the ability to calm anxious sailors when he sees a problem. One of his Yale team mates, Peter Isler, re-calls a clinic where the sailors were nervous about capsizing because the wind was blowing hard. Dave got in front of the group and said, "I know you are nervous about capsizing so the first thing we are going to do is go out and capsize and like magic their fears went away." Sportsmanship is a hallmark of Dave Perry's teachings. The sport of sailing is stronger as a direct result of his enthusiastic teaching skills.
Jobson also profiled Cunningham, who earned a Lifetime Achievement Award for his "organizational ability, drive and sportsmanship."
Cunningham became a household name in the sailing world for winning the 1958 America's Cup but he was already well known in car racing circles. In fact, he was honored on the cover of "Time" magazine in the April 26, 1954 issue. The title of the accompanying article read, "Road Racer Briggs Cunningham: Horsepower, Endurance, Sportsmanship." Later in life he was Inducted into the America's Cup Hall of Fame (1993), the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America (1997) and the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 2003. Both sports require a high level of athletic prowess and technological skill, and Cunningham had both.
In 1958 the America's Cup resumed after a 21-year hiatus. Four 12 meters including the 1939 Sparkman & Stephens design "Vim" along with three new yachts; "Columbia," "Easterner" and "Weatherly" spent the summer racing in a series of trials for the right to defend the Cup against the British challenger "Sceptre." "Columbia's" syndicate recruited a champion car racer and yachtsman to be the helmsman. Carlton Mitchell author of, "Summer of the Twelves," (Charles Scribner's Sons, 1959) described the recruit, Briggs Cunningham, in glowing terms, "The quarterback – skipper and starting helmsman was to be Briggs Cunningham. Before the war, he had been a dedicated yachtsman, racing 6 and 12-meters impartially and with great success, as well as dominating the Atlantic Class. A quiet, shy man who brings to sport an organizational ability and drive which would make him a success in any field."
As a young sailor Cunningham was a crew aboard "Dorade" when she won the 1931 Fastnet Race. He was clever with rigs, sail plans and yacht design. His device used to increase the tension on the luff of a mainsail has long been called the "Cunningham." Mitchell noted in his book that, "Cunningham was totally intent on perfecting his boat and was part of the sweeping changes which have occurred in modern yachting. One can image how the quest to create a faster car might have been analogous to making a faster 12 Meter. Cunningham and Olin Stephens had a long association racing together offshore, in team races, and 6 Meters. In Stephens memoir, "All This and Sailing, Too," (Mystic Seaport, 1999) he talks at length about his interest in car racing and learned a considerable amount of knowledge from Cunningham. So, it was no accident that the two sailors ended up together on "Columbia." Cunningham also was a major contributor to Mystic Seaport and underwrote the expenses of the 1936 S &S designed schooner, "Brilliant" that has been used for sail training for young people over many years. Briggs Cunningham was a generous and long-time benefactor to many sailing endeavors.
During the 1977 America's Cup summer, Cunningham was one of eight members on the New York Yacht Club's America's Cup Selection Committee. At the age of 70 he was the senior member of the committee. As the 27-year-old tactician aboard "Courageous" that summer I got to know him fairly well. My impression was that he was generally quiet but always took a moment to give me some helpful advice. I have to laugh now because at the time he seemed kind of old, but as I write this essay, I am now 70, the same age he was back then. Being honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award and inducted into the National Sailing Hall of Fame is a fitting tribute to a gifted, vibrant, innovative, and successful sailor who set a powerful example by help-ing many other reach their goals on and off the water.
