Every once in a while, I'll string a couple of header photos into a themed post. Over the last two weeks, I've taken featured three photos of juniors sailing U.S.A. Mothboats from the 1950's and 1960's. The 1960's had all sort of hiking styles, particularly for the flyweight juniors who found the Mothboat overpowering at times. I've contrasted this with a recent photo of a New Zealand junior sailing their indigenous P-class junior singlehander. This NZ junior is fully coached up on the modern, "correct" way to hike. (Two of the photos I lifted from George Albaugh's blog. The P-class photo was kicking around on the InterWeb.)
I started off with a 1960's Sports Illustrated photo of a 13 year old junior doing the extreme back-bend hike. This may be a show-off hike to impress the camera man.. Hull looks to be a Connecticut.
Next up, another 1960's photo. We have a small junior, fighting it, but right on the edge, one foot in the strap, the other flailing around. Hull looks to be a Challenger.
The third 1960's photo has the aft foot in the hiking strap and the forward foot hooked around the sidestay. Hull is a Cates
And finally we have the modern day "flat leg" hike, with the modern day attire, and the modern day sunglasses (and, thankfully, a life-jacket, something which is lacking in the previous photos).
The contrast of 60 years or so, does show how advanced the modern juniors are in the sport of sailboat racing. I do wonder if this advanced skill-set at a young age has to do with some of these top-notch juniors choosing another sport to pursue in their 20's, something they have to learn anew, something fresher.
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